Ham v. South Carolina
Ham v. South Carolina | |
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Holding | |
The trial court's refusal to question the jurors as to their racial bias after petitioner's timely request denied the petitioner a fair trial in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. South Carolina Supreme Court reversed and remanded. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Brennan, Stewart, White, Blackmun, Powell |
Concur/dissent | Marshall |
Concur/dissent | Douglas |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. XIV |
Ham v. South Carolina, 409 U.S. 524 (1973), was a
Background of the case
Gene Ham was a black man who was arrested on May 15, 1970, in Florence, South Carolina, due to four outstanding warrants that charged him with possession of drugs. After his arrest, police took Ham to the Florence city jail and searched him. This search produced marijuana, but Ham claimed that police had framed him because of his involvement with the civil rights movement. Nonetheless, Ham was subsequently charged with a fifth arrest warrant. Before Ham's trial, during voir dire, Ham sought to ask the following four sets of questions of the potential jurors:
- Would you fairly try this case on the basis of the evidence and disregarding the defendant’s race?
- You have no prejudice against negroes? Against black people? You would not be influenced by the use of the term ’black’?
- Would you disregard the fact that this defendant wears a beard in deciding this case?
- Did you watch the television show about the local drug problem a few days ago when a local policeman appeared for a long time? Have you heard about that show? Have you read or heard about recent newspaper articles to the effect that the local drug problem is bad? Would you try this case solely on the basis of the evidence presented in this courtroom? Would you be influenced by the circumstances that the prosecution’s witness, a police officer, has publicly spoken on TV about drugs?
The trial judge refused to ask these questions, ruling that they were not relevant. Instead, the judge asked the jurors only the following three basic questions specifically required by South Carolina State Law, S.C. Code § 38-202 (1962):
- Have you formed or expressed any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant, Gene Ham?
- Are you conscious of any bias or prejudice for or against him?
- Can you give the State and the defendant a fair and impartial trial?
At the conclusion of his trial, Ham was found guilty of possession of marijuana, which was a violation of South Carolina State Law, S. C. Code § 32-1506 (1962). Ham was sentenced to eighteen months in prison.
Ham appealed his conviction to the
Majority opinion
Writing for the majority,
Turning to the particulars of Ham's case, the Court noted that
Concurrence and dissent
Justice Douglas also referenced Aldridge and concluded that the goal of voir dire was to disclose “prejudices of a serious character”.[1] He then associated hair growth with prejudice of a serious character. He points out that “hair growth is symbolic to many of rebellion against traditional society and disapproval of the way the current power structure handles social problems,” and he further acknowledged that for some “people, nonconventional hair growth symbolizes an undesirable lifestyle characterized by unreliability, dishonesty, lack of moral values, communal (communist) tendencies, and the assumption of drug use.”[1] Douglas concluded that denying a petitioner the right to examine this aspect of prejudice was to also deny him an effective means of voir dire.
Justice Marshall took care to caution that a party should not be allowed to ask any and every possible question. Nor should a party be given an unlimited opportunity to conduct preliminary voir dire. He recognized the countervailing interests of the state with regard to speedy trials and the avoidance of jury intimidation. Nonetheless, in Justice Marshall’s opinion, the additional fifteen minutes needed to ask the petitioner's questions concerning racial bias would not have greatly burdened the trial court, and thus the trial court abused its discretion.[1]
Aftermath
Since the Ham decision, two cases have further clarified the adequacy of federal voir dire when there is a heightened risk of racial bias: Ristaino v. Ross, 424 U.S. 589 (1976), and Rosales-Lopez v. United States, 451 U.S. 182 (1981). Ristaino revealed that Ham's constitutional rule is narrow in scope. It held that the "mere fact that the victim of the crimes alleged was a white man and the defendants were Negroes" did not constitutionally compel an examination of racial bias. Rosales-Lopez has since clarified the federal standard. The plurality in Rosales-Lopez held that in federal court, refusal to pose questions submitted by the defendant would be "reversible error only where the circumstances of the case indicate that there is a reasonable possibility that racial or ethnic prejudice might have influenced the jury."
Notes
External links
- Text of Ham v. South Carolina, 409 U.S. 524 (1973) is available from: CourtListener Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)