Colo. Rev. Stat. § 16-10-103

Current through Chapter 67 of the 2024 Legislative Session
Section 16-10-103 - Challenge of jurors for cause
(1) The court shall sustain a challenge for cause on one or more of the following grounds:
(a) Absence of any qualification prescribed by statute to render a person competent as a juror;
(b) Relationship within the third degree, by blood, adoption, or marriage, to a defendant or to any attorney of record or attorney engaged in the trial of the case;
(c) Standing in the relation of guardian and ward, employer and employee, landlord and tenant, debtor and creditor, or principal and agent to, or being a member of the household of, or a partner in business with, or surety on any bond or obligation for any defendant;
(d) The juror is or has been a party adverse to the defendant in a civil action or has complained against or been accused by him in a criminal prosecution;
(e) The juror has served on the grand jury which returned the indictment, or on a coroner's jury which inquired into the death of a person whose death is the subject of the indictment or information, or on any other investigatory body which inquired into the facts of the crime charged;
(f) The juror was a juror at a former trial arising out of the same factual situation or involving the same defendant;
(g) The juror was a juror in a civil action against the defendant arising out of the act charged as a crime;
(h) The juror was a witness to any matter related to the crime or its prosecution;
(i) The juror occupies a fiduciary relationship to the defendant or a person alleged to have been injured by the crime or the person on whose complaint the prosecution was instituted;
(j) The existence of a state of mind in the juror evincing enmity or bias toward the defendant or the state; however, no person summoned as a juror shall be disqualified by reason of a previously formed or expressed opinion with reference to the guilt or innocence of the accused, if the court is satisfied, from the examination of the juror or from other evidence, that he will render an impartial verdict according to the law and the evidence submitted to the jury at the trial;
(k) The juror is a compensated employee of a public law enforcement agency or a public defender's office.
(2) If any juror knows of anything which would disqualify him as a juror or be a ground for challenge to him for cause, it is his duty to inform the court concerning it whether or not he is specifically asked about it. The jury panel shall be advised of this duty and of the grounds for challenge for cause before any prospective jurors are called to the jury box.
(3) If either party desires to introduce evidence of the incompetency, disqualification, or prejudice of any prospective juror who upon the voir dire examination appears to be qualified, competent, and unprejudiced, such evidence shall be heard, and the competency of the juror shall be determined, by the court, out of the presence of the other jurors, but this action cannot be taken after the jury has been sworn to try the case except upon a motion for mistrial.

C.R.S. § 16-10-103

L. 72: R&RE, p. 236, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 39-10-103. L. 98: (1)(k) amended, p. 466, § 6, effective January 1, 1999.