Opinion ID: 1914800
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: trial error versus structural error

Text: During the hearing on the Batson motion, the trial court implicitly found that the prosecution engaged in gender discrimination in the exercise of its peremptory challenges. The trial court, applying a harmless error analysis, nonetheless overruled Lowe's Batson motion, finding no equal protection violation because the final jury panel consisted of an equal number of males and females. We have never before addressed the issue of whether a harmless error analysis is appropriate in the context of a Batson challenge, and neither party has meaningfully addressed the issue in their respective briefs to this court. Accordingly, we must determine whether the trial court was correct to apply a harmless error analysis to a Batson challenge. In State v. Bjorklund, 258 Neb. 432, 604 N.W.2d 169 (2000), we recognized two types of constitutional infirmities established and later refined by the U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279, 111 S.Ct. 1246, 113 L.Ed.2d 302 (1991): trial errors and structural errors. In Bjorklund, we noted the U.S. Supreme Court defined structural errors as those so `affecting the framework within which the trial proceeds,' that they demand automatic reversal. 258 Neb. at 504, 604 N.W.2d at 225. The Court in Fulminante defined trial errors as those `which occurred during the presentation of the case to the jury, and which may therefore be quantitatively assessed in the context of other evidence presented in order to determine whether its admission was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.' State v. Bjorklund, 258 Neb. at 504, 604 N.W.2d at 225. We noted that the U.S. Supreme Court limited structural errors to a few very specific categories total deprivation of counsel, trial before a judge who is not impartial, unlawful exclusion of members of the defendant's race from a grand jury, denial of the right to self-representation at trial, and denial of the right to a public trial. We also observed that the Court listed several errors, many of constitutional magnitude, which are properly termed trial errors and subject to harmless error review. Among those listed were the denial of counsel at a preliminary hearing, the admission of a defendant's coerced statement, and a jury instruction containing an erroneous conclusive presumption. The federal courts of appeals that have considered the question have generally treated Batson violations as structural and thus subject to per se reversal. See, U.S. v. Serino, 163 F.3d 91, 93 (1st Cir.1998) (finding Batson violation and reversing without proof of prejudice or proceeding to consider harmlessness); Tankleff v. Senkowski, 135 F.3d 235, 248 (2d Cir.1998) (holding that [b]ecause the effects of racial discrimination during voir dire `may persist through the whole course of the trial proceedings,' Batson challenge structural error not subject to harmless error review); Ramseur v. Beyer, 983 F.2d 1215 (3d Cir.1992) (holding harmless error analysis inappropriate in cases involving discrimination in jury selection process); U.S. v. Broussard, 987 F.2d 215 (5th Cir.1993) (declining to apply harmless error analysis to trial court's misapplication of Batson test), abrogated on other grounds, J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., 511 U.S. 127, 114 S.Ct. 1419, 128 L.Ed.2d 89 (1994); U.S. v. McFerron, 163 F.3d 952, 956 (6th Cir.1998) (finding Batson violation involves `structural error' not subject to harmless error analysis); Rosa v. Peters, 36 F.3d 625 (7th Cir.1993) (opining U.S. Supreme Court would not characterize Batson violation as trial error and concluding harmless error analysis inapplicable); Ford v. Norris, 67 F.3d 162 (8th Cir.1995) (holding constitutional error involving Batson violation not subject to harmless error analysis); U.S. v. Annigoni, 96 F.3d 1132 (9th Cir.1996) (holding proper remedy for improper use of peremptory challenge under Batson is automatic reversal); U.S. v. Thompson, 827 F.2d 1254 (9th Cir.1987) (finding harmless error inapplicable to Batson violation); Davis v. Secretary for Dept. of Corrections, 341 F.3d 1310 (11th Cir.2003) (concluding harmless error review inapplicable in context of Batson violations); Pamela S. Karban, Race, Rights, and Remedies in Criminal Adjudication, 96 Mich. L. Rev.2001 (1998). In Davis v. Secretary for Dept. of Corrections, supra , the 11th Circuit observed that the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet suggested that discriminatory exclusion of prospective jurors is subject to harmless error review. The 11th Circuit noted, however, that the U.S. Supreme Court has on several occasions reversed convictions without first determining whether the improper exclusion of jurors made any difference in the outcome of the trial. For example, the 11th Circuit noted that in Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991), the U.S. Supreme Court reversed, and remanded based upon a finding that the defendant was wrongfully barred from raising a Batson claim. Davis v. Secretary for Dept. of Corrections, supra . In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), the Court ordered that the defendant's conviction be reversed if the defendant, on remand, was able to establish a prima facie case of discrimination and the state was unable to provide a neutral explanation for the challenged strikes. The Court has also required automatic reversal in a similar context of discrimination in the selection of members of a grand jury. Batson v. Kentucky, supra (citing Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U.S. 254, 106 S.Ct. 617, 88 L.Ed.2d 598 (1986); Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U.S. 545, 99 S.Ct. 2993, 61 L.Ed.2d 739 (1979)). The 11th Circuit further opined that the U.S. Supreme Court has expressly recognized that discrimination in the exercise of peremptory challenges harms not only the defendant's interests, but also the interests of jurors themselves in not being excluded improperly from jury service, as well as the interest of the community in the unbiased administration of justice. Davis v. Secretary for Dept. of Corrections, supra (citing Georgia v. McCollum, 505 U.S. 42, 112 S.Ct. 2348, 120 L.Ed.2d 33 (1992); Powers v. Ohio, supra ; and Batson v. Kentucky, supra ). The court stated that the doctrine of third party standing enables defendants to act on behalf of improperly excluded jurors by raising Batson claims in their stead, even when the defendant and the improperly excluded juror are not of the same race. Davis v. Secretary for Dept. of Corrections, supra (citing Powers v. Ohio, supra ). The court further observed that a defendant is no more entitled to exercise peremptory strikes on a racially discriminatory basis than the prosecution. As such, the court maintained, the harm proscribed by Batson must redound to interests beyond the defendant's if it constrains the defendant's own selection of trial strategies. Davis v. Secretary for Dept. of Corrections, supra (citing Georgia v. McCollum, supra ). Accordingly, the 11th Circuit concluded that a Batson violation warrants automatic reversal and is not subject to harmless error review. The Eighth Circuit reached a similar conclusion in Ford v. Norris, 67 F.3d 162 (8th Cir.1995). In Ford, the court concluded that a constitutional error involving the race-based exclusion of jurors infects the entire trial process itself and is, therefore, a structural error not subject to a harmless error analysis. The court stated: A prosecutor's wrongful exclusion of a juror by a race-based peremptory challenge is a constitutional violation committed in open court at the outset of the proceedings. The overt wrong, often apparent to the entire jury panel, casts doubt over the obligation of the parties, the jury, and indeed the court to adhere to the law throughout the trial of the cause. The voir dire phase of the trial represents the jurors' first introduction to the substantive factual and legal issues in a case. The influence of the voir dire process may persist through the whole course of the trial proceedings. Ford v. Norris, 67 F.3d at 171. The Eighth Circuit concluded that when jurors are excluded solely because of racial considerations, the irregularity may pervade all the proceedings that follow. In the instant case, the fact that an equal number of males and females appeared on the final jury panel is inapposite. The U.S. Supreme Court stated in J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., 511 U.S. 127, 114 S.Ct. 1419, 128 L.Ed.2d 89 (1994), that it is irrelevant to the constitutionality of gender-based peremptory challenges that women, unlike African-Americans, are not in the numerical minority and therefore are likely to remain on the jury if each side uses its peremptory challenges in an equally discriminatory fashion. The Court stated: Because the right to nondiscriminatory jury selection procedures belongs to the potential jurors, as well as to the litigants, the possibility that members of both genders will get on the jury despite the intentional discrimination is beside the point. The exclusion of even one juror for impermissible reasons harms that juror and undermines public confidence in the fairness of the system. 511 U.S. at 142, n. 13, 114 S.Ct. 1419. We agree with the rationale of the federal circuit courts of appeals that have held that a Batson violation is a structural error not subject to harmless error review. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court erred in applying a harmless error analysis to Lowe's Batson challenge. It is of no consequence that the composition of the final jury panel in this case consisted of an equal number of men and women.