Opinion ID: 71999
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Batson and Powers Claim

Text: 118 Cargill also alleges that the prosecutor purposefully discriminated against blacks in the selection of the petit jury through his use of peremptory challenges and thus violated the Fourteenth Amendment pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), and Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991). Cargill's conviction became final on February 23, 1987, the date the United States Supreme Court denied his petition for a writ of certiorari on direct appeal. See Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 321 n. 6, 107 S.Ct. 708, 712, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987). Therefore, the rule of Powers--that under the Equal Protection Clause a defendant has standing to object to race-based exclusion of jurors through peremptory challenges whether or not the defendant and the excluded jurors share the same race--only applies to Cargill if it has retroactive effect. As Cargill concedes, this court has held that Powers announced a 'new rule' of law that could not be applied retroactively on collateral review. Farrell v. Davis, 3 F.3d 370, 372 (11th Cir.1993). Cargill asks this panel to revisit Farrell; this we cannot do. The law of this circuit is emphatic that only the Supreme Court or this court sitting en banc can judicially overrule a prior panel decision. United States v. Woodard, 938 F.2d 1255, 1258 (11th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1109, 112 S.Ct. 1210, 117 L.Ed.2d 449 (1992).