308
Opinion of the Court
I
Respondent Abel Martinez-Salazar and a codefendant were tried by a jury in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona for a variety of narcotics and weapons offenses. As Rule 24(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure instructs, the District Court allotted the co-defendants 10 peremptory challenges exercisable jointly in the selection of 12 jurors. Martinez-Salazar and his co-defendant also received an additional peremptory challenge exercisable in the selection of an alternate juror. See Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 24(c).
Prior to jury selection, the District Court gave the prospective jurors a written questionnaire to complete. See 146 F. 3d, at 654-655. A potential juror, Don Gilbert, indicated on his questionnaire that he would favor the prosecution. Id., at 655. In a discussion with the trial judge, Gil-bert restated: "[A]ll things being equal, I would probably tend to favor the prosecution." Ibid. The judge explained that the burden of proving a person guilty rests with the Government. Gilbert said he would not disagree with that proposition. The judge next asked Gilbert whether, if he were a defendant facing jurors with backgrounds and opinions similar to his own, he thought he would get a fair trial. Gilbert answered: "I think that's a difficult question. I don't think I know the answer to that." Ibid. Martinez-Salazar's counsel then inquired whether Gilbert would feel more comfortable erring on the side of the prosecution or the defense. Gilbert responded: "I would probably be more favorable to the prosecution. I suppose most people are. I mean, they're predisposed. You assume that people are on trial because they did something wrong." Ibid. The judge then told Gilbert that his response was "contrary to our whole system of justice. When people are accused of a crime, there's no presumption . . . of guil[t]. The presumption is the other way." Ibid. Gilbert replied, "I understand that in theory." Ibid.
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