Opinion ID: 1322788
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: AEDPA's Contrary to Clearly Established Federal Law Requirement

Text: Smulls next claims that the state supreme court's analysis of the Batson claim is contrary to clearly established federal law because the supreme court conflated the second and third steps of the Batson analysis. In reviewing state court proceedings for compliance with federal law, we consider the entirety of the state proceedings. Even if the trial court made a legal error, the error does not support habeas relief if the state appellate court correctly applied federal law. See Boyd v. Newland, 467 F.3d 1139, 1144 (9th Cir. 2006) (giving deference to a California Court of Appeals decision that correctly applied Batson even though the trial court had applied a higher state court standard for making out a prima facie Batson claim), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 2249, 167 L.Ed.2d 1089 (2007); see also Elem v. Purkett, 64 F.3d 1195, 1200-01 (8th Cir.1995) (reviewing state appellate court findings on remand from the Supreme Court). The Supreme Court of Missouri correctly articulated the Batson three-step standard, found that the prosecutor's proffered reasons concerning Ms. Sidney's occupation and demeanor were race neutral, and concluded that the trial court did not clearly err in overruling the Batson challenge. See Smulls, 935 S.W.2d at 14-15. Smulls focuses on the Supreme Court of Missouri's citation to Purkett in its discussion of the third Batson step to support his assertion that the court improperly conflated steps two and three. See id. at 15-16 (noting that [a] legitimate reason for exercising peremptory challenges is not one `that makes sense' but one `that does not deny equal protection,' quoting Purkett, 514 U.S. at 769, 115 S.Ct. 1769, where the Court had explained why the Eighth Circuit had erred in holding the prosecution to too high of a burden at the second step). We do not construe the Supreme Court of Missouri's discussion or consideration of the issue as stopping at step two or inappropriately applying the step-two standard to step three. Step three requires balancing the defendant's prima facie case from step one against the race-neutral justifications offered in step two to determine whether the defendant has met his ultimate burden at step three of proving that the prosecutor's motives were in fact discriminatory. Although the Supreme Court of Missouri quoted from Purkett 's discussion of the step-two analysis, the court concluded that even if it assumed that some of the prosecutor's reasons for the strike were nonsensical, that did not establish that the prosecutor's justifications were inherently pretextual, which is the defendant's burden at step three. See Rice, 546 U.S. at 338, 126 S.Ct. 969 (noting that a federal habeas court can grant a § 2254 petition based on Batson only if it was unreasonable for the state court to credit the prosecutor's race-neutral explanations); Bell-Bey v. Roper, 499 F.3d 752, 757-58 (8th Cir.2007) ([T]he trial court's conclusion [that] the state attorney's nondiscriminatory rationale was persuasive (without further argument [from the defense]) was not contrary to clearly established federal law.... [W]hen the trial court makes the necessary credibility determination, we defer to that ruling and there is `nothing left to review.' (quoting Miller-El I, 537 U.S. at 339-40, 123 S.Ct. 1029)). As we discussed above, the denial of a Batson challenge is itself a finding at the third step that the defendant failed to carry his burden of establishing that the strike was motivated by purposeful discrimination. See Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 364, 111 S.Ct. 1859, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991) (In Batson, [the Supreme Court] explained that the trial court's decision on the ultimate question of discriminatory intent represents a finding of fact ....) (plurality opinion); Messiah v. Duncan, 435 F.3d 186, 189 (2d Cir.2006) (holding that the trial court fulfills its duty to rule on the Batson third-step analysis by expressing a clear intention to uphold or reject a strike after listening to the challenge, the race-neutral explanation and the arguments of the parties); Hightower v. Terry, 459 F.3d 1067, 1072 n. 9 (11th Cir.2006) (rejecting a claim that the state courts failed to apply the third Batson step and concluding that the trial court's rejection of the challenge was itself a step-three finding), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 2254, 167 L.Ed.2d 1123 (2007). By finding that the trial court did not clearly err in accepting the prosecutor's reasons, the Supreme Court of Missouri properly applied the third step of the Batson analysis. In a related argument, Smulls claims that the trial court violated clearly established federal law by placing an undue burden on the defendant to establish the race of each venireperson and then avoiding the Batson challenge when the defense failed to meet the allegedly imposed burden. However, it is evident from the record that the state trial court was informed that Ms. Sidney was the only black venireperson when it first rejected the Batson challenge. The defense represented to the court that she was the only black person in the qualified group of 30 venirepersons when it first challenged the strike and again when it renewed the challenge the following morning, and at no time did the prosecution ever dispute that fact. The record shows that when the trial court ruled on the Batson objection, it did so based on what was presented to this Court, which included defense counsel's representation about the racial composition of the qualified venire. (Appellant's App. at 18.) In short, the trial court considered the challenge and the related circumstances and arguments, including its observations of Ms. Sidney, and made its ruling, a ruling it made four times in two days. To the extent Smulls claims that the trial court violated federal law by placing too high a burden on the defendant to establish the race of the other venirepersons, we respectfully reject the claim. Further, the defense was allowed to respond to the prosecutor's proffered reasons and argue that the stated reasons were pretextual. While the trial court did initially deny the motion for a mistrial following the prosecutor's proffered race-neutral reasons for striking Ms. Sidney, the trial court immediately allowed the defense ample opportunity to make its argument that the proffered reasons were pretextual. The trial court did not limit the defense. Rather, it allowed the defense to make the record it chose to make, considered the arguments, and then denied the motion. The defense then asked that the peremptory strike be disallowed, which the trial court overruled. The following day, the defense again raised the Batson challenge. The trial court allowed both parties to address the issue and supplement the record. The trial court once again denied the challenge, but only after once again listening to the arguments made by counsel. Given this extensive record, the trial court cannot be criticized for failing to afford the defense an opportunity to respond, nor can it be fairly criticized for failing to consider the relevant circumstances raised by the attorneys.