Title: State v. Hood
Citation: 245 Kan. 367, 780 P.2d 160
Docket Number: 61,973
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: September 11, 1989

245 Kan. 367 (1989)
780 P.2d 160
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
KENNETH W. HOOD, Appellant.
No. 61,973

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed September 11, 1989.
Jessica R. Kunen, chief appellate defender, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellant.
Mona Furst, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Robert T. Stephan, attorney general, Nola Foulston, district attorney, and Pamela Clancy, legal intern, were with her on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
MILLER, C.J.:
This is a direct appeal by the defendant, Kenneth W. Hood, from an order of the trial court finding that the State exercised its peremptory challenges to remove the only two black jurors for "reasons that are neutral and are acceptable under the Batson decision." See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69, 106 S. Ct. 1712 (1986). The order from which defendant appeals was entered at a hearing in the trial court directed by this court in the earlier appeal in this case, State v. Hood, 242 Kan. 115, 744 P.2d 816 (1987). Two issues are raised: that the reasons advanced by the prosecutor for striking the potential jurors were not racially neutral; and that the defendant should have been present in person at the hearing.
A brief statement of the procedural and factual background is necessary. On April 21, 1986, defendant's trial commenced in the District Court of Sedgwick County. The State was represented by Ann Swegle, an assistant district attorney. Defendant Hood appeared in person and was represented by Edward F. Britton, an assistant public defender. The problem arose during the jury selection process. In our earlier opinion, State v. Hood, 242 Kan. at 121, we said:
The trial court overruled defendant's objection and upheld the peremptory challenges by the prosecutor. Trial proceeded, and on April 24, 1986, the jury convicted the defendant of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, and rape. Six days later, on April 30, 1986, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in Batson v. Kentucky.
Batson, a defendant in a Kentucky prosecution, was black. On the first day of trial, the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to strike all four black persons on the venire, and a jury composed of only white persons was selected to try the case. The Batson Court explained how a defendant can establish a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination. The Court said:
At trial, defense counsel interposed a timely objection to the prosecutor's use of peremptory challenges to remove the only blacks from the trial jury. Though Hood was tried before the *369 Batson decision was announced, Batson is to be applied retroactively to cases pending upon direct appeal, or otherwise not final, at the time the Batson opinion was filed. Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 93 L. Ed. 2d 649, 107 S. Ct. 708 (1987). When Hood's appeal came before us, the case was not final. We therefore held Batson applicable, and remanded the case to the trial court "not for further evidence, but for further argument before the trial court, based upon the trial record and counsel's recollection, as to the propriety of the peremptory challenges exercised by the State." 242 Kan. at 123.
Upon remand, a hearing was held before the trial judge. The State appeared by Henry Blase and Ann Swegle, assistant district attorneys. The defendant appeared by Richard Ney, the chief public defender. Edward F. Brittan, the attorney who represented defendant at trial, was no longer with the public defender's office, and neither he nor defendant were present at this hearing. Ann Swegle, the assistant district attorney who tried the case for the State, made a statement to the court as follows:
Mr. Ney, counsel for defendant Hood, pointed out that the two jurors who were struck were black, defendant was black, and defense counsel at trial, Mr. Britton, was also black. Ney contended that the reasons advanced by the prosecutor did not establish a neutral, clear, and reasonably specific explanation for the exercise of the State's peremptory challenges to remove the *371 only two blacks from the jury. At the conclusion of the oral argument, the trial judge announced his decision as follows:
Before turning to the specific reasons advanced by the State for excusing the jurors, it will be helpful to review some of the instruction given by the Court in Batson:
PRIOR ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE DEFENDANT
The first juror, Mr. Williams, stated that he knew the defendant when the defendant was much younger, perhaps eight or nine years of age. Williams could not recall the exact circumstances of his acquaintance with the defendant. He did not remember whether it was through school or through family. The prosecutor stated that she had previously had potential jury members who have known either a defendant or defendant's family, and never on any occasion had she allowed those individuals to stay on the jury. She had exercised a peremptory challenge if the juror was not excused for cause. None of the other jurors on the trial panel were acquainted with the defendant or his family.
Appellate courts in other jurisdictions have held that peremptory challenges of potential jurors who were acquainted with the defendant or defendant's family were exercised for neutral reasons. *373 See Johnson v. State, 512 So. 2d 819 (Ala. Crim. App. 1987); McCormick v. State, 184 Ga. App. 687, 362 S.E.2d 472 (1987); Killens v. State, 184 Ga. App. 717, 362 S.E.2d 425 (1987); People v. Daniels, 164 Ill. App.3d 138, 517 N.E.2d 626 (1987). Sedgwick County is a large metropolitan area where it would appear that most jurors are not acquainted with lawyers, litigants, or witnesses. The prosecutor stated that she had tried a great number of jury cases and she followed a practice of removing from juries all persons who are acquainted with the defendant. This is a valid and neutral reason for exercising a peremptory challenge.
THE BURDEN OF PROOF ISSUE
The prosecutor stated that she thought Mr. Richard was having a bit of a problem understanding the burden of proof. His words and his actions led her to believe that perhaps he would not follow the law in regard to the burden of proof. He seemed somewhat hostile to her; his response to defense counsel's questions seemed to be much more affirmative, both in language and in physical response, than to her questions. The prosecutor questioned all of the original panel of jurors with regard to the burden of proof, and all responded in substance that they understood that the State must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Richard and Mr. Williams were called after the panel had been examined and some jurors excused, and thus Richard and Williams were examined separately by counsel. Mr. Richard, however, asked the prosecutor to repeat her question about the burden of proof, and finally agreed that he would not make her prove her case beyond any or all doubt. Mr. Williams stated that it would have to be proven to him to his personal satisfaction and that his standard might be "a higher standard than what the judicial system has set up."
There was no indication that the prosecutor singled out Mr. Richard or Mr. Williams to question them at length about the burden of proof. On the contrary, she commenced by asking the same sort of question propounded to all jurors. The responses simply called for more questions until the matter was resolved. The trial court should be sensitive to the way a prosecutor questions jurors of defendant's race and later exercises peremptory challenges to remove those jurors from the trial panel. Some cases have held that the difficulties that minority members of the panel wrestled with regarding the burden of proof were not, *374 alone, sufficient to justify the peremptory challenges. In Garrett v. Morris, 815 F.2d 509 (8th Cir.), cert. denied 484 U.S. 898 (1987), the prosecutor submitted that his reason for striking three jurors was not based on race but instead on background, education, and knowledge to understand scientific evidence that he intended to present. The United States Court of Appeals found that, in light of the prosecutor's decision not to strike prospective white jurors who differed in no significant way, the reasons advanced by the prosecutor were a pretext for racial discrimination. That case, however, is distinguishable because in the case now before us there were no white jurors who gave the same or similar responses to the burden of proof questions as did Mr. Richard or Mr. Williams. Here, the prosecutor did not advance any explanation based on any group trait; she did not contend that black jurors generally would not be able to understand the burden of proof. She did not conduct a disparate examination of the challenged juror without cause, she did not conduct a perfunctory examination and then strike the juror, and she did not retain any white jurors who gave answers similar to those of Mr. Richard or Mr. Williams. This case is therefore distinguishable on the facts from Garrett. See People v. Turner, 42 Cal. 3d 711, 230 Cal. Rptr. 656, 726 P.2d 102 (1986); and Slappy v. State, 503 So. 2d 350, 355 (Fla. Dist. App. 1987). Under the circumstances as disclosed by the record in this case, we conclude that the burden of proof issue is a sufficient neutral reason for the peremptory challenge of Mr. Richard and Mr. Williams.
BODY LANGUAGE
The prosecution also relied upon "body language." Hostility toward the prosecution, as evidenced by oral responses, tone of voice, sitting with arms crossed, leaning forward when defense counsel conducts voir dire, or leaning back while the prosecution asks questions, is a matter which the trial court may take into consideration in determining whether the prosecutor has a valid and neutral reason for striking the juror. Normally, the trial court's decision will be made immediately after voir dire and the trial court will have the benefit of having just observed the prospective jurors and having heard the questions and answers. Again, however, the trial judge must be particularly sensitive when body language, alone, is advanced as a reason for striking a juror of the defendant's race.
*375 In U.S. v. Forbes, 816 F.2d 1006 (5th Cir.1987), the prosecutor used three of his six peremptory challenges to strike black persons from the panel. The first was struck because her sons were in trouble with the law. The second was struck because the juror sat with her arms crossed during voir dire and impressed the prosecutor as being hostile. The trial judge held these reasons were sufficient to justify the challenges; the Fifth Circuit agreed, saying:
Here, the same judge who presided at trial presided at the Batson type hearing. Though the judge did not have independent recall of the jurors' body language, he found the reasons advanced by the prosecutor were neutral reasons for striking the jurors on peremptory. The standard for review is abuse of discretion; clearly, the judge's ruling was not arbitrary, fanciful, or unreasonable. See Leeper v. Schroer, Rice, Bryan &amp; Lykins, P.A., 241 Kan. 241, 248, 736 P.2d 882 (1987); and Stayton v. Stayton, 211 Kan. 560, 563, 506 P.2d 1172 (1973). We find no abuse of discretion.
Other reasons advanced and discussed are that Mr. Richard seemed to be partial to defense counsel and hostile to the prosecutor. Mr. Richard, defendant Hood, and defense counsel were all black men. Clearly, the fact that the prospective juror and the defendant and his counsel were black is not a neutral and sufficient reason for striking that person from the jury panel. Mr. Richard's alleged hostility to the prosecutor, and his seeming good relation to defense counsel, however, were explained by the prosecutor as being based upon Mr. Richard's oral responses and his observed body language, and were not solely because of his race.
*376 We conclude that the trial court did not err in finding that the State had valid, neutral, and nondiscriminatory reasons for the exercise of its peremptory challenges.
DEFENDANT'S ABSENCE FROM THE REMAND HEARING
Finally, defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying the defendant's prehearing motion to be personally present at the remand hearing. K.S.A. 22-3405(1) provides, in part:
In the case of State v. Marks, 231 Kan. 645, 647 P.2d 1292 (1982), we held that the conducting of a conference for the exercise of peremptory challenges outside the presence of the defendant was not error, and did not deny the defendant a fair trial, since the conference dealt with a matter of law. We relied on State v. Mantz, 222 Kan. 453, 463, 565 P.2d 612 (1977), where we said:
Defendant argues that the issue at bar was one of fact, not of law. We remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings, "not for further evidence, but for further argument before the trial court, based upon the trial record and counsel's recollection, as to the propriety of the peremptory challenges exercised by the State." State v. Hood, 242 Kan. 115, 123, 744 P.2d 816 (1987). Defendant Hood was represented at all times by counsel. The matter was before the court for argument as to whether the State's reasons for exercising peremptory challenges were "neutral." The matter was therefore primarily one of law and not of fact.
*377 Defendant next argues that the case of U.S. v. Thompson, 827 F.2d 1254 (9th Cir.1987), should control. In Thompson, the issue was "whether the district judge erred by permitting the Assistant United States Attorney to state her reasons to him ex parte and then ruling on the objection without divulging the reasons to defense counsel." 827 F.2d  at 1257. The court discussed each of the arguments of counsel, and concluded "that the district court erred in refusing to allow defense counsel in this case to hear the government's reasons for excluding the black potential jurors and to present argument thereon." 827 F.2d  at 1261. The court's conclusion is based upon the exclusion of defense counsel from the ex parte hearing. The court points out the importance of having counsel at the hearing in order that counsel may counter the government's argument and point out any deficiencies or inconsistencies. The opinion, however, does not discuss the necessity of having the defendant personally present at such a hearing. Even the dissent deals exclusively with the right of the defendant to have counsel at the hearing. The case is clearly distinguishable on the facts from the case now before us.
Of interest is the case of United States v. Davis, 809 F.2d 1194 (6th Cir.1987). There the prosecution removed seven out of nine potential black jurors by exercise of peremptory challenge. The remaining two were removed for cause. Defense counsel objected, and the trial court held what is characterized in the opinion as an "in camera" hearing at which the government disclosed its reasons for striking the jurors. Neither the defendants nor defense counsel were permitted to attend that hearing. The district court, following the in camera hearing, ruled that the government's criteria were legitimate and reasonable. The United States Court of Appeals affirmed, finding that neither the Constitution nor Rule 43(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (which contains language similar to our K.S.A. 22-3405(1), quoted above) required defendant's presence at the hearing. The court said:
Defense counsel at trial raised the issue and, as we noted in our *378 earlier opinion, it appears "that the trial court ... found that a prima facie showing had been made." 242 Kan. at 123. When the matter came on for hearing after remand, defendant Hood was represented by counsel who was well prepared. The record reflects that Hood was ably represented at the remand hearing. This was a post-trial hearing, before a court without a jury in attendance, and was not a critical stage of the proceeding. Defendant had no statutory or constitutional right to be present in person. We think the trial court followed the preferred procedure in having defense counsel present at the hearing; ex parte or "in camera" hearings, as approved in Davis, should be avoided unless there appears some sound and compelling reason for proceeding ex parte. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion. We find no error.
The judgment is affirmed.