Opinion ID: 1739694
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: the use of peremptory challenges to exclude black jurors

Text: In Batson v. Kentucky, ___ U.S. ___, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), the Supreme Court reversed a case based on the discriminatory use of peremptory challenges. However, there is a basic distinction between Irving's case and Batson. There, the defendant objected at trial to the composition of the jury, and his objection was specifically based on the removal of black jurors. The Supreme Court held In this case, petitioner made a timely objection to the prosecutor's removal of all black persons on the venire. Because the trial court flatly rejected the objection without requiring the prosecutor to give an explanation for his action, we remand this case for further proceedings. ___ U.S. ___, 106 S.Ct. at 1725, 90 L.Ed.2d at 90. The failure of Irving's counsel to object to the racial makeup of the jury at trial goes beyond a mere procedural default. The rationale of Batson is entirely premised on the idea that the trial court will hear the challenge to the jury and decide whether the prosecutor has used his peremptory challenges in a discriminatory fashion. The general procedure envisioned by the Court may be summarized thusly: [T]he defendant first must show that he is a member of a cognizable racial group [cite omitted], and that the prosecutor has exercised peremptory challenges to remove from the venire members of the defendant's race. Second, the defendant is entitled to rely on the fact, as to which there can be no dispute, that peremptory challenges constitute a jury selection practice that permits `those to discriminate who are of a mind to discriminate.' [cite omitted] Finally, the defendant must show that these facts and any other relevant circumstances raise an inference that the prosecutor used that practice to exclude the veniremen from the petit jury on account of their race. ... . In deciding whether the defendant has made the requisite showing, the trial court should consider all relevant circumstances... . We have confidence that trial judges, experienced in supervising voir dire, will be able to decide if the circumstances concerning the prosecutor's use of peremptory challenges creates a prima facie case of discrimination against black jurors. Once the defendant makes a prima facie showing, the burden shifts to the State to come forward with a neutral explanation for challenging black jurors.... The prosecutor therefore must articulate a neutral explanation related to the particular case to be tried. The trial court then will have the duty to determine if the defendant has established purposeful discrimination. ... . In those states applying a version of the evidentiary standard we recognize today, courts have not experienced serious administrative burdens, and the peremptory challenge system has survived. We decline, however, to formulate particular procedures to be followed upon a defendant's timely objection to a prosecutor's challenges. [emphasis added] ___ U.S. ___-___, 106 S.Ct. 1723-24, 90 L.Ed.2d at 87-90. Irving's failure to timely object to the racial composition of his jury defeats the substance of the Court's holding in Batson that the trial judge must determine the validity of peremptory challenges. Furthermore, he cannot show the establishment of a new right as cause for his failure to raise the claim earlier, for, as the Supreme Court noted of the claim advanced in Smith v. Murray, various forms of the claim he now advances [had] been percolating in the lower courts for years at the time of his original appeal. ___ U.S. at ___, 106 S.Ct. at 2667, 91 L.Ed.2d at 446. See Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965); Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976). Accordingly, this claim is denied.