Opinion ID: 1443930
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pretrial petition challenging composition of grand jury

Text: Kirksey next contends that he was denied effective assistance of counsel when counsel failed to file a pretrial petition for habeas corpus challenging the indictment based upon the under-representation of African-Americans on the grand jury. We disagree. [I]t is settled that a grand jury must be drawn from a cross-section of the community, and there must be no systematic and purposeful exclusion of an identifiable class of persons. Adler v. State, 95 Nev. 339, 347, 594 P.2d 725, 731 (1979) (holding that exclusion of persons unwilling to serve operates without regard to race, sex, status or ethnic background). The procedure for impaneling grand juries is set forth in NRS 6.110. In a county with a population of 100,000 or more, the clerk of the court randomly selects and sends a questionnaire to 500 qualified persons until a panel of 100 persons who are willing to serve is established. NRS 6.110(1). The district judges then meet and each selects a name from the list of 100 until 50 persons have been selected. NRS. 6.110(2). These 50 persons make up the venire, from which the presiding district judge randomly selects 17 persons as the grand jury, plus 12 alternates. NRS 6.110(3). Kirksey's post-conviction counsel indicated that the Clark County grand jury which indicted Kirksey (a black male) was composed of one Latino female, four white females, eight white males, and two males and one female of undetermined race. Kirksey, however, has presented no evidence regarding the composition of the 50-person venire. Additionally, Kirksey has done nothing to demonstrate that there was purposeful discrimination or that the random process explained above was either not used or somehow resulted in purposeful discrimination. We therefore conclude that Kirksey's claim of underrepresentation fails the Strickland test.