If selected for jury in the states where capitol punishments still exist; can you plead a conscientious objection to appearing?
I'm English, and thankfully the death penalty went just before I was born.
But I do believe the guilty should be punished.
Now if I were forced on a Jury where a man's life was in question, I would be forced into being a Hendry Fonda.
To clarify, in England, you get into a lot of trouble if you fail to show up for jury service.
If you stated that in no condition could you sentence someone to death - then you would almost certainly be excused from being a juror.
You wouldn't have to be a Henry Fonda - you just have to vote not guilty. You don't have to give an explanation and there only has to be one person to vote not guilty and he wouldn't be be sentenced to death (he also won't be convicted and would be set free with any possibility of being re-tried for that crime and would go free without a criminal record for that crime).
Fortunately - in many/most states there is a second phase of the system. If a jury finds out that person is guilty - they go on to the second phase in which there is even a higher threshold to be sentenced to death - so it would be possible to find someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt - but still not enough to send them to death.
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>>>he wouldn't be be sentenced to death (he also won't be convicted and would be set free with any possibility of being re-tried for that crime and would go free without a criminal record for that crime). <<<
A clarification. If the jury finds the defendant not guilty then yes, he would be freed and cannot be retried for that crime. However, if some number of jurors vote not guilty and others vote guilty and neither side can persuade the other, than, after some time, the judge would declare a mistrial. And then he could be retried. The prosecution has the option to retry when a mistrial is declared. They are not required to, and may not if they believe the result wouldn't change, but they have the option.
If you're serving on a jury where the prosecution os, or might, seek the death penalty, then you must be willing to see that penalty imposed. The US is not supposed to have "jury nullification" which is where the jury thinks that the person committed the crime but acquits anyway because they don't think the person should be punished for it.
In the US each side has a number of challenges they can use to strike jurors for almost any reason (you can't strike based on race). But both sides can also get jurors struck for "cause" which means that there's something in their background which may make them biased. In criminal cases, for example, law enforcement officers will be struck because it's presumed that they will favor the police and prosecution. People who have been victims of similar types of crimes, or who have been accused of similar types of crimes, might also be struck, as would their close relatives. The conflicts are usually determined through questioNing of prospective jurors, either orally by the judge and attorneys or via written questionaires (the latter especially in large and more complex cases). Nowadays, in major trials, the attorneys might employ a jury consultant who specializes in trying to select favorable jurors.
In a death penalty case, they would ask any potential juror if they would be able to impose a death sentence should they find the person guuilty. If they say that they wouldn't then they get struck automatically. The jury has to be "death penalty qualified." One problem with this is that people who are willing to impose the death penalty are also more likely to convict someone. So a death penalty qualified jury is also one which is more likely to favor the prosecutions case. It also tends to demographically skew the jury since African Americans are less likely to support the death penalty than whites.