Opinion ID: 2028761
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jimmy Green

Text: The State explained that it exercised a peremptory challenge against Jimmy Green, a 35-year-old male, because he lived in the same neighborhood in which the crimes against Steinbrecher and Atiles were committed and in which the defendant lived. The State explained that it excused Green based upon his residence because certainly during the course of the trial he may find out that he knows somebody who knew Mr. Andrews. Just being from the area itself, you may be uncomfortable having to pass judgment on someone in the community where he is going to have to live, where his children are going to have to also live and congregate with other members of the community, and I don't think it puts him in a good situation   .    [T]his may be something that could affect Mr. Green    and for that reason we excused Mr. Green. This court has held that striking a potential juror because he or she resides near the scene of the crime or near the residence of the defendant is a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for exercising a peremptory challenge. ( People v. Hooper (1989), 133 Ill.2d 469, 509-10, 142 Ill.Dec. 93, 552 N.E.2d 684.) The defendant contends that it was improper to excuse Green based upon his residence because Green never indicated that he knew the defendant or anyone on the list of witnesses, nor was he asked about his knowledge of the location of the offense. The defendant's arguments, however, are unpersuasive. In Hooper, the court deemed proper the exercise of a peremptory challenge on this basis even where the excused venireperson did not know the defendant or have any specific knowledge of the crime scene. The State here was concerned about the effect on Green of living in the same neighborhood as the crime scene and the defendant's residence, regardless of whether Green knew the defendant or any witnesses or had any particular knowledge of the crime scene. We note that, in this case, none of the accepted venire members came from the neighborhood in which the crimes occurred and in which the defendant lived. We conclude that the State's decision to exclude Green on the grounds that he lived in the neighborhood in which the crime scene was located and in which the defendant and his mother lived was not a pretext for racial discrimination. The trial court's determination that the State's explanation was race neutral and sufficient to rebut the defendant's prima facie case was not clearly erroneous.