Riley, J.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant-Defendant, Tracie Easler (Easler), appeals her conviction for operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, as a Class A misdemeanor, Ind. Code § 9-30-5-2(a)&(b).
We affirm.
ISSUES
Easler presents this court with two issues on appeal, which we restate as:
(1) Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it failed to grant Easler’s request to question a member of the venire after the member divulged information relevant for the voir dire; and
(2) Whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying Easler’s request to remove a juror for cause.
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After an alternate was selected, the trial court informed the parties that Juror 4 had written a note to the court, which stated,
A family member was killed by a drunk driver. It was before I was born. But altered my family, and my family dynamic. I can be a jury member but thought it relevant to disclose.
(Suppl. Tr. p. 35). After the trial court read the letter, defense counsel asked to “bring her out, and question her as to whether she would be fair and impartial.” (Suppl. Tr. p. 35). The trial court disregarded defense counsel’s request and stated, “Oh, okay. So I just thought I’d share that with you, okay. But I don’t think there’s anything else we can do. All right.” (Suppl. Tr. p. 36).
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Pointing to the letter written by Juror 4, Easler interprets the writing as an indication of a potential bias and claims that Juror 4 must therefore have engaged in juror misconduct by failing to provide full and truthful answers on her questionnaire. [Footnote omitted.] Easler points out that Juror 4 only stated on her questionnaire that her grandmother had been a victim of murder and violent crimes made her partial to the victim, but she did not disclose anything else. Easler maintains that upon being notified that a member of Juror 4’s family was killed by a drunk driver, new concerns arose that the Juror may have been referring to her grandmother and had failed to disclose that. Accordingly, Easler asserts that she was entitled to a hearing to further explore Juror 4’s potential bias.
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Turning to the case before us, we conclude that Easler failed to present specific, substantial evidence establishing Juror 4’s bias. On her questionnaire, completed prior to being brought into the courtroom and becoming familiar with the charges filed against Easler, Juror 4 specified that her grandmother had been a murder victim. During voir dire, neither party inquired into the statement or asked her any questions pertaining to Easler’s charges. After she was elected to sit on the venire and was escorted from the courtroom, Juror 4 sent the trial court a note in which she volunteered that a family member had been killed by a drunk driver but assured the court that she could be a jury member despite her family history.
We cannot equate the incompleteness of Juror 4’s questionnaire with bias. While “it is the duty of each juror to answer all questions on voir dire fully and truthfully,” Juror 4 completed the questionnaire to the best of her ability. McFarland v. State, 390 N.E.2d 989, 992 (Ind. 1979). It was not until she arrived in the courtroom and was informed by the trial court about the specific charges that she became aware of other relevant information, which she conscientiously divulged to the parties in the only way possible at that time. This disclosure, coupled with the affirmation that she could remain on the jury despite her background, resolved the need for any questioning as the trial court had educated the panel that to be a jury member, the person must be free from “bias, [and] prejudice[.]” (Tr. p. 14). Accordingly, as the note did not provide the specific, substantial evidence of bias required to trigger a hearing under Barnes and Lopez, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by declining Easler’s request to further question Juror 4.
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Having exhausted her peremptory challenges, Easler challenged Juror 4 “based on her failure to provide full and truthful answers on her questionnaire.” (Appellant’s Br. p. 21). Had she timely revealed the information that one of her family members had been killed by a drunk driver, Easler alleges that she then could have explored any possible bias during voir dire.
However, the record does not support that Juror 4 deliberately withheld this information or provided untruthful information on the questionnaire or during voir dire. Rather, the evidence supports that Juror 4 was forthcoming about her family history at the earliest opportunity after she learned that the case involved a driver who operated a vehicle while intoxicated. Neither party asked any questions during voir dire whether the prospective jurors had been victims of drunk-driving incidents, or if they knew or were related to anyone who had been a victim. Because Juror 4 disclosed the information voluntarily at her earliest opportunity, even after counsel wholly failed to ask any questions pertaining to drunk driving, and then assured the parties that she could still be a juror, Easler has fallen short of establishing bias, misconduct, or partiality by Juror 4. Accordingly, as Easler’s jury was fair and impartial, we affirm her conviction.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that the trial court properly denied Easler’s request to question a member of the venire after the member divulged information relevant for voir dire, and Easler was convicted by a fair and impartial jury.
Affirmed.
Kirsch, J. and Robb, J. concur