Opinion ID: 1657019
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: deprival of batson claim

Text: Mr. Grim's third point of error relates to the way the trial court dealt with his Batson claim. Mr. Grim's attorney indicated that he believed that the prosecution had exercised its peremptory strikes in a discriminatory manner contrary to the teachings of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). The trial judge indicated that if the motion were made, he would quash the jury and start from scratch. Apparently the trial court and Mr. Grim's attorney were operating under the assumption that the proper relief for a violation of Batson is to quash the jury. To the contrary, the proper remedy for discriminatory use of peremptory strikes is to quash the strikes and permit those members of the venire stricken for discriminatory reasons to sit on the jury if they otherwise would. Because all concerned misunderstood the proper relief under Batson and because Mr. Grim's attorney thought the jury was better for Mr. Grim than the jury that might have been chosen if a new panel were selected, he withdrew his motion. Mr. Grim now argues that this action of the trial court was improper. This point has not been properly preserved, however. Mr. Grim was entitled to challenge the strikes of the prosecution but did not do so. Had Mr. Grim's attorney asked for relief and then objected to the trial court's means of dealing with the problem, the point would be adequately preserved for our review.