Appellate Law in Florida.
Preservation
Does the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause prohibit religious-based peremptory challenges during jury selection? We may never know, as the question was narrowly avoided today when the Florida Supreme Court decided, in State v. Pacchiana, that the issue was not properly preserved for appellate review. How specific must an objection be? It seems the answer is, in some cases, more specific even than the trial court needs to determine the nature of the error.
Read MoreJury Selection
Today the Florida Supreme Court decided State v. Ivey, which involved a certified question of great public importance from the First District Court of Appeal. The question was whether a defendant can renew a previously raised objection to a peremptory challenge, after the juror has been excused and the jury has been agreed to, but before the jury has been sworn in. While the First District found that such an objection is not waived and can therefore be renewed, the Florida Supreme Court disagreed with the premise of the question, finding that in this case the defendant’s request for a standing objection was not specific enough to act as a renewal.
