Opinion ID: 709030
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Use of Peremptory Challenge to Exclude Juror 99

Text: 66 During voir dire the government used one of its peremptory challenges to strike Juror 99, a young black woman. Defense counsel objected to this challenge as an unconstitutional, racially discriminatory use of a peremptory challenge. The District Court asked the prosecutor if he wished to respond to the objection, and the prosecutor offered the following explanation for the exercise of the challenge: 67 And 99 I note for the record is the youngest individual or at least one of the youngest individuals. She is a black female, she's single, she has a 17 month old child and I believe she rents. She said virtually nothing. As a matter of fact, my records indicate she said nothing in voir dire. I struck, for the record, jurors number 91 and number 93, also females, who also said virtually nothing, if at all, said nothing during voir dire. It has been my experience in picking well over 200 juries in the criminal justice system that those people who don't answer questions are either naive or withholding information or have had virtually no experience with the criminal justice system and as such, they tend to be a lot more naive and a lot less knowledgeable about the events and the happenings on the street involving street crimes which is what we're talking about right here. 68 Oct. 27, 1992 Tr. at 57-58. The prosecutor then continued, stating that 69 I note for the record in my own experience that young black females have a penchant, have a tendency--and I have noted throughout in my trials, over forty or fifty jury drug related trials--tend to testify on behalf and be more sympathetic toward individuals who are involved in narcotics, either because of emotional attachment or family attachment or attachment as a result of financial gains or financial benefits as a result of their relationship with drug dealers. 70 Id. at 58. The court allowed the strike, and the next day it explained its decision to do so, stating that 71 I believe the record is clear enough, but I just wanted to double check. On one of the strikes yesterday I commented that Mr. Hoag's reason for striking a young black woman was not a racially neutral reason and I still say that, that is not a racially neutral reason, but the other reasons you expressed give cause that are non-racially--they are racially neutral--the other reasons you stated.... For that reason I'm allowing the strike.... [T]he other reasons you gave give the basis for being a strike. 72 Tr. vol. 1 at 1-2. Several appellants contend that the court erred when it allowed the government to strike Juror 99 from the pool of potential alternate jurors. 73 In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 89, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 1719, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), the Supreme Court held that the Equal Protection Clause forbids the prosecutor to challenge potential jurors solely on account of their race or on the assumption that black jurors as a group will be unable impartially to consider the State's case against a black defendant. The Court later held that gender, like race, is an unconstitutional proxy for juror competence and impartiality. J.E.B. v. Ala. ex rel. T.B., --- U.S. ----, ----, 114 S.Ct. 1419, 1421, 128 L.Ed.2d 89 (1994). If a party exercises a peremptory challenge in part for a discriminatory purpose, a trial court must decide whether the party whose conduct is being challenged has demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that the strike would have nevertheless been exercised even if an improper factor had not motivated in part the decision to strike. Jones v. Plaster, 57 F.3d 417, 421 (4th Cir.1995) (internal citation omitted); see also Howard v. Senkowski, 986 F.2d 24, 26-30 (2d Cir.1993). If so, the peremptory challenge is not subject to constitutional attack. A district court's finding on whether a peremptory challenge was exercised for a racially discriminatory reason is reversed only if clearly erroneous. Jones, 57 F.3d at 421 (citing Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 364-65, 111 S.Ct. 1859, 1868-69, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991)). [E]valuation of the prosecutor's state of mind based on demeanor and credibility lies 'peculiarly within a trial judge's province.'  Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 365, 111 S.Ct. at 1869 (quoting Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 428, 105 S.Ct. 844, 854, 83 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985)). 74 In this case the prosecutor stated several race-neutral and gender-neutral reasons for striking Juror 99 before adding one reason that was not race or gender neutral. He also stated that the most important reason for striking the juror was her inexperience. Tr. vol. 1 at 2. The District Court found that the statement regarding the tendency of young black women to sympathize with drug dealers was not racially neutral but that the other reasons were, and that those other reasons formed the basis for the strike. The court noted that the prosecutor had struck two other jurors who also said virtually nothing during voir dire, both of whom were white. 8 The court's decision to allow the strike on the basis of the several racially neutral reasons was equivalent to a finding that the prosecutor would have exercised the strike even without the one non-racially neutral motive. The District Court was in the best position to judge the motives of the prosecutor, and the record reveals that the court did so carefully, taking note of the several reasons offered for the challenge and expressly finding that the racially neutral reasons formed a valid basis for the government's use of the peremptory challenge. We cannot say that in so doing the court clearly erred.