Opinion ID: 807645
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Gerardo O.

Text: Gerardo O. was one of two Hispanic jurors the prosecution challenged during the second round of peremptories. He was struck, the prosecutor explained in the subsequent ex parte proceeding, because: (1) he was “illiterate,” and had needed the questionnaire to be translated for him; (2) he “appeared not to fit in with anyone else,” was “standoffish,” with “dress and mannerisms . . . not in keeping with the other jurors,” and “did not appear to be socializing or mixing with any of the other jurors”; and (3) his voir dire responses suggested that he was not sure “if he could take someone’s life,” and that he “felt a little shaky as far as his responsibilities in this case.” The trial judge concluded that the “record document[ed] the factors that were indicated” by the prosecutor and accepted his explanation. Once again, had the defense not been excluded from the Batson proceedings, it likely could have called into question AYALA v. WONG 10123 all of the prosecution’s stated reasons for striking Gerardo O. Defense counsel could have first argued that one reason given — that Gerardo O. was illiterate — was itself indicative of the prosecution’s discriminatory intent. Although Gerardo O. did need someone to fill out the questionnaire for him, the record reveals that he was not, in fact, illiterate, but simply had difficulty writing in English. Gerardo O. had been born in Mexico and was not a native English speaker, but he had graduated from high school and attended college in the United States, and was perfectly capable of reading the summary of legal issues that was given to prospective jurors before voir dire questioning. As he explained at voir dire, he did not fill out the questionnaire himself because he was concerned about his English spelling. The prosecution’s purported reason for striking Gerardo O., then, was directly related to his status as someone who spoke Spanish as his first language. Thus, as the Supreme Court observed in a similar circumstance, “the prosecutor’s frank admission that his ground for excusing th[is] juror[ ] related to [his] ability to speak and understand Spanish raised a plausible, though not a necessary, inference that language might be a pretext for what in fact [was a] racebased peremptory challenge[ ].” Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 363 (plurality opinion). Defense counsel’s presence was necessary to point out the potential inferences to the trial judge and urge the judge to adopt the one most appropriate here. An inference of racial bias might also have been drawn from the prosecutor’s claim that Gerardo O. was challenged because he did not dress or act like other jurors, and did not mix or socialize with them. It is likely that Gerardo O.’s dress and mannerisms were distinctly Hispanic. Perhaps in the late 1980s Hispanic males in San Diego County were more likely than members of other racial or ethnic groups in the area to wear a particular style or color of shirt, and Gerardo O. was wearing such a shirt (and for this reason did not “fit in,” in the prosecutor’s mind, with the other jurors). If so, and if defense counsel were able to bring this fact to the trial court’s attention, the prosecution’s explanation that it struck Gerardo O. 10124 AYALA v. WONG because of his dress and mannerisms would provide compelling support for Ayala’s claim that the strike was actually racially-motivated. See id. (“[A]n invidious discriminatory purpose may often be inferred from the totality of the relevant facts, including the fact, if it is true, that the [classification] bears more heavily on one race than another.”) (quoting Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 242 (1976)). If present at the hearing, defense counsel could have made a record that would have strongly supported these claims. Even if Gerardo O.’s clothes and behavior were in no way correlated with his race, defense counsel might have been able to show the prosecution’s explanation to be pretextual. Defense counsel might have pointed to other jurors the prosecution had not struck who had similar characteristics — perhaps, for example, a seated white juror had actually worn an outfit identical to Gerardo O.’s. Defense counsel might also have been able to challenge the factual basis for the prosecution’s claim — perhaps, unbeknownst to the trial judge, Gerardo O. did “socializ[e] or mix[ ]” with a number of other jurors, and had even organized a dinner for some of them at his favorite Mexican restaurant. We can only speculate as to whether or how Ayala could have shown this explanation for striking Gerardo O. to be facially discriminatory, false or pretextual because we know nothing about his dress or mannerisms, or that of the other prospective jurors. These are exactly the sort of physical and behavioral observations that the defense could have preserved for the record had it been permitted to hear and respond to the prosecution’s explanations for challenging Gerardo O. Although we might hope that the trial judge would have noticed if Gerard O. had been wearing a shirt worn only by members of the Hispanic community, or had been dressed identically to other prospective jurors whom the prosecution had not challenged, or had in fact been socializing with other jurors, “we cannot affirm simply because we are confident he AYALA v. WONG 10125 must have known what he was doing.” Thompson, 827 F.2d at 1261. Finally, in response to the prosecution’s third reason for the strike — that Gerardo O. seemed reluctant to impose the death penalty — defense counsel could have demonstrated this reason to be pretextual through comparisons to jurors the prosecution did not strike. Gerardo O. had stated during voir dire that “I’m not sure if I can take someone’s life in my hand and say . . . you know, ‘death,’ or something,” but he soon thereafter affirmed that he “could vote for the death penalty.” This statement was indistinguishable from those made by a number of seated white jurors. Dorothy C. said in voir dire that serving as a juror in a capital case would cause her to “worry a lot” because it was “a lot of responsibility,” gasped when defense counsel told her that as a juror she would “decide the sentence,” and stated, “I’ve never had to vote on a death penalty. That might be a little bit difficult when it came right down to it, but I’d say I’m for it.” Likewise, Dorothy H., when asked in voir dire if she could return a verdict of death, stated, “I don’t think it would be an easy thing for anyone, but I don’t — I think I could do it if I felt it was the thing to do.” Dorothea L. was even more hesitant, saying, when asked the same question, “I think so, but I don’t know until I have to do it.” Finally, Leona B., when asked by the prosecutor if having the responsibility for imposing the death penalty would “bother” her, responded, “Yes, I think so. I think — I think one should be affected . . . by that. I don’t think it’s anything to be taken lightly.” Certainly, Gerardo O. expressed less hesitancy than Ana L., who had flatly stated on her questionnaire that she “probably would not be able to vote for the death penalty” before subsequently changing her mind. Further, prospective white jurors accepted by the prosecution but struck by the defense might have expressed similar sentiments in their jury questionnaires. We cannot tell, because these questionnaires have been lost. Thus, one of the reasons given by the prosecution for striking this prospective juror could have itself given rise to an 10126 AYALA v. WONG inference of discriminatory intent. A second reason cannot be evaluated because defense counsel was excluded from the Batson proceedings and could not preserve for the record certain crucial facts. The third reason given failed to distinguish Gerardo O. from seated white jurors the prosecutor chose not to strike, as well as, possibly, from other prospective white jurors struck not by the prosecution but by the defense. Given the cause we have to question the validity of the prosecution’s reasons that can be evaluated on this record, we cannot say that Ayala would not have shown that the trial court would or should have determined that the prosecution’s strike of Gerardo O. violated Batson.