Kitts v. Austin

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that the trial court erred in precluding voir dire questioning of prospective jurors as to whether they would automatically impose the death penalty, as opposed to fairly considering all of the sentencing options, in a case involving the murder of young children
• denying relief for an error premised on a violation of a jury composition provision in the UAP because “it is highly probable that the trial court’s minor violation of [the UAP] did not contribute to the jury’s guilty and sentencing verdicts”
• “[mjuch like cross-examination is the engine of truth in our justice system, voir dire is the engine of selecting a jury that will be fair and impartial
• “[Although we have characterized arguments using metaphors for a defendant such as ‘animal’ and ‘snake’ as ‘unnecessary and undesirable,’we have held that allowing them is not reversible error.” (citation omitted)
• “[a] conclusion on an issue of juror bias is based on findings of demeanor and credibility which are peculiarly in the trial court’s province, and those findings are to be given deference”
• a “golden rule” argument is one that urges “the jurors to imagine themselves in the place of the victims during the murders and thus improperly evok[es] the jury’s passion, sympathy, and personal identification with the victims”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).