10-3198 U.S. v. Foster

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Criminal Procedure
Jury selection

A defendant must object to the court’s method of choosing juries timely, or the objection is waived.

“Foster explicitly waived the protections of those procedures. As the Supreme Court has explained, the provisions of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are ‘presumptively waivable.’ United States v. Mezzanatto, 513 U.S. 196, 201 (1995). Here, Foster waived any challenge to the jury selection process by agreeing explicitly in advance to the procedure used by the district judge. See United States v. Hill, 552 F.3d 541, 544-45 (7th Cir. 2008) (finding defendant waived objection to same Rule 24(c) violation in selection of alternate jurors). In an on-the-record pretrial conference and at trial, the district judge explained the manner in which he planned to conduct voir dire and asked the parties if they agreed to that procedure. Both defense counsel and the prosecution agreed without reservation. Foster did not raise his present argument until after he was found guilty. Having waived any error that may have occurred here, Foster cannot now complain of the manner in which his jury was selected.”

Affirmed.

10-3198 U.S. v. Foster

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Gettleman, J., Hamilton, J.

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