The Michigan Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a Detroit man convicted of kidnap and sexual assault after judges ruled that the trial court judge abused his discretion by not allowing lawyers before the start of the trial to question and exclude certain jurors.
In a 4-3 opinion released Friday, Justice Richard Bernstein wrote that in not allowing peremptory challenges ― a process in which the prosecutor and defense in a trial are allowed to exclude potential jurors without providing a reason, a practice designed to allow both parties to minimize potential bias ― trial court Judge Dalton A. Roberson limited the defense team of defendant Robert Yarbrough Jr. and its ability to "strategically consider the final composition of the jury."
"The questioning of each prospective juror provides litigants with the opportunity to observe and gauge the reactions of all the other prospective jurors for any signs of bias in one direction or another," Bernstein said in the majority opinion. "As new prospective jurors are seated, new questions may arise that lead to additional information about previously seated individuals. The system imposed here cut short defendant's ability to engage in this ongoing strategic monitoring ...."
Yarbrough went to trial in 2018, accused of kidnapping a woman in Detroit, who was in his neighborhood to retrieve money he owed her. He took the battery out of her phone, choked her and hit her before dragging her to a bedroom and began to "forcibly" sexually assault her, according to court documents. He restrained her when she attempted to escape, hit her with a hammer and threatened to bury her alive.
The woman escaped after 20 hours, according to court documents referenced in the opinion. A rape kit presented "very strong support" that the DNA was Yarbrough's as well as DNA on the hammer found at the scene, according to details provided in the ruling.
Yarbrough was convicted in a jury trial of kidnapping, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, felonious assault and three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced to 7 to 15 years for the felonious assault and 40 to 60 years each for the other convictions.
The Michigan Court of Appeals agreed "that the trial court's practice was an abuse of its discretion" in a 2020 decision, but said verdict did not require automatic reversal because "the wealth of inculpatory evidence against the defendant" would likely have resulted in the same outcome.
Bernstein, however, said that considering how the verdict would have differed with a different jury "required an act of pure speculation, making it an exercise in futility."
"The questioning of each prospective juror provides litigants with the opportunity to observe and gauge the reactions of all other prospective jurors for any signs of bias in one direction or another," the ruling said. "As new prospective jurors are seated, new questions may arise that lead to additional information about previously seated individuals."
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Brian Zahra argued that Yarbrough had not shown that the error would have changed the verdict and called the majority decision "seriously misguided."
He added that the automatic reversal "an extreme remedy," arguing it was not applicable in this case because the error "involved only the violation of a court rule."
"And since the evidence presented at trial overwhelmingly supports the jury's verdict and any impartial jury would have reached the same verdict in this case, I would find the error harmless and not disturb the jury verdict that resulted in defendant's proper conviction and sentences," Zahra said.
Yarbrough's attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
In a statement, Jon Wojtala, Wayne County Prosecutor's Office Chief of Appeals, said: "We are disappointed and certainly disagree with the Michigan Supreme Court majority's decision. This elevates a purported nonconstitutional error to the same level of those few violations of fundamental constitutional rights deemed so egregious as to warrant automatic reversal."
—Staff Writer Mark Hicks contributed to this report.
