Photographs Not Allowed During Jury Selection

In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Florida held it was not an abuse of discretion to prohibit defense counsel from showing photographs to potential jurors during jury selection. Defense counsel sought to show the potential jurors an autopsy photograph and ask whether it would cause them to vote for the death penalty. The Court held, in Hoskins v. State, 32 FLW S159 (Fla 2007), that defense counsel was, in effect, trying to seek an advance opinion of the evidence from the jurors, and that since the purpose of voir dire is to obtain an impartial jury, not to obtain a preview of the juror’s opinions about the evidence, it was not an abuse of discretion to prevent the use of the photographs during voir dire.