Opinion ID: 2594572
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Challenge Regarding Rights of Excluded Prospective Jurors

Text: In tandem with his Wheeler claim, defendant also maintains that the ex parte proceedings make it impossible to determine whether race-based exclusion may have occurred, to the detriment of prospective jurors who enjoy a right under the equal protection clause not to be discriminated against in jury selection on the basis of race. ( Powers v. Ohio, supra, 499 U.S. 400, 409, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411.) Again, on the record before us, we are confident that no such exclusion occurred. The prosecutor articulated, at a minimum, plausible criteria for his excusals, the trial court agreed that the excusals were proper, and to the extent the written record before us touches on the prosecutor's stated reasons, it confirms that they were not pretextual.