State v. Ellison

In State v. Ellison, 213 Ariz. 116, 137, P 89, 140 P.3d 899, 920 (2006) the court held that a judge may strike a juror for cause who equivocates about "whether he would take his personal biases in the jury room." In that death penalty case, the court summarized the juror's statements as follows: "If it comes to the point could I be for the death penalty, I don't know if I could do that. I might say no, I can't do that." She stated it was possible that, even if the jury found multiple aggravating factors and no mitigating factors, she would not vote for the death penalty or would find it hard to do so. In fact, it would be more possible for her to ignore the law, and vote in favor of life over death, than to follow the law. She quantified "more possible" as sixty percent. She also said, "it would be really hard to vote for the death penalty, even if it's all right there in front of my nose." Id. at 137, P 90, 140 P.3d at 920.