Opinion ID: 1036479
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Striking Pattern

Text: The State used all of its 21 peremptory strikes and 17 of its 18 cause strikes on black venire members. The State’s striking pattern is troubling, although not alone dispositive of Batson’s third step. Rather, in the statistical analysis courts must consider the statistics in the context of other factors in a case, such as: the racial composition of the venire from which the jurors were struck, the racial composition of the ultimate jury, the substance of the voir dire answers of jurors struck by the State, and any other evidence in the record of a particular case. Indeed, “the number of persons struck takes on meaning only when coupled with other information such as the racial composition of the venire, the race of others struck, or the voir dire answers of those who were struck compared to the answers of those who were not struck.” 35 The State does not claim that the state appellate court procedurally barred any aspect of Lee’s Batson claim. But the State does contend that certain arguments Lee has made in the federal courts were not raised in the state courts and cannot be made here. We disagree and conclude that Lee adequately raised in the state appellate court the claims he made in the district court and now here. 111 Case: 12-14421 Date Filed: 08/01/2013 Page: 112 of 128 See United States v. Ochoa-Vasquez, 428 F.3d 1015, 1044 (11th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Cochran v. Herring, 43 F.3d 1404, 1412 (11th Cir. 1995) (stating that “statistical evidence is merely one factor which the court examines, and it is not necessarily dispositive” in evaluating whether a Batson violation has occurred). Here, as to the voir dire answers, the state appellate court examined them and determined that the prosecutor’s strike reasons were all race-neutral. The state appellate court compared the answers of the struck venire members to the answers of seated jurors whom Lee claimed on direct appeal were similarly situated and concluded that there was no disparate treatment. Lee I, 898 So. 2d at 815–17. There is nothing in the substance of the voir dire itself that evinces discriminatory intent. The racial composition of the venire and the selected jury should also be considered. Before peremptory strikes began, 32 of the 53 remaining venire members were black or 60.3% of the venire. Yet on Lee’s jury, 9 of the 12 jurors were black or 75% of the jury. That a predominantly black jury was selected cuts in favor of the state appellate court’s conclusion that no Batson violation occurred. See United States v. Puentes, 50 F.3d 1567, 1578 (11th Cir. 1995) (“Although the presence of African-American jurors does not dispose of an allegation of racebased peremptory challenges, it is a significant factor tending to prove the paucity 112 Case: 12-14421 Date Filed: 08/01/2013 Page: 113 of 128 of the claim.”); see also, e.g., United States v. Gamory, 635 F.3d 480, 496 (11th Cir. 2011) (in addition to finding prosecutor’s proffered race-neutral reason persuasive, the Court specifically noted that three African-Americans were ultimately seated on the jury). It was not unreasonable for the state appellate court to conclude that this striking pattern, which also produced a predominantly black jury, was not a per se violation under Batson. Of course, it must be considered in the totality of all other relevant circumstances, which we discuss too.