Opinion ID: 1855550
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the court erred in allowing the state to strike a black juror, over defense counsel's batson objection.

Text: ¶ 10. Jasper first asserts that the trial court erred in allowing the State to peremptorily challenge a black juror, Judia McDonald, thereby removing her from the jury panel. Jasper claims that Mc-Donald's removal was effected for a racially invidious purpose. The State responds that McDonald was challenged for a racially neutral reasonshe was a close friend of Jasper's mother. ¶ 11. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), proscribes the racially discriminatory use of peremptory challenges. In order to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination in the context of peremptory challenges, a defendant must demonstrate that: He is a member of a cognizable racial group, 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 mind to discriminate.' Booker v. State, 716 So.2d 1064, 1068 (Miss.1998). ¶ 12. In Booker we held that a circuit court's findings as to whether the State exercised race-neutral peremptory challenges will be given great deference and will not be reversed unless they appear to be clearly erroneous. Id. See also Coleman v. State, 697 So.2d 777, 785 (Miss. 1997); Johnson v. State, 529 So.2d 577, 583 (Miss.1988); Lockett v. State, 517 So.2d 1346, 1349 (Miss.1987). ¶ 13. During voir dire, Judia Mc-Donald informed the State that she had known Jasper's mother, Bobbie Ferguson, for some 25 years. However, McDonald stated that she did not know Jasper and that her acquaintance with Bobbie Ferguson would not influence her decision. Later, the State exercised one of its peremptory challenges against McDonald, voicing concerns about her relationship with Jasper's mother. The trial judge granted the strike over the defense's objections, but made no findings of fact as to whether the State's reasons for making the peremptory challenge against McDonald were raceneutral. ¶ 14. This Court held in Fleming v. State, 732 So.2d 172 (Miss.1999), that trial courts should make an on-the-record factual determination of the merits of the reasons supporting the State's use of peremptory challenges. We found that such an on-the-record determination would remove the guesswork surrounding the trial court's ruling on a Batson issue. Fleming at 179. ¶ 15. According to our holding in Fleming the trial judge in the instant case was in error when he failed to make a finding on the record that the State's reasons for challenging McDonald were race-neutral. However, we hold this to be harmless error in this case as we find nothing in the record that indicates a Batson violation. The State challenged McDonald, not because she was black, but because she had known and attended church with the defendant's mother for 25 years. Despite McDonald's voluntary admission of the relationship and her claim that she did not know Steve Jasper, the State's concern about her impartiality was an acceptable race-neutral reason. Thus, this issue is without merit.