Opinion ID: 1942312
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Superior Court's Batson Analysis Upheld

Text: The Superior Court accepted the prosecutor's explanation and found that he had not intentionally exercised the State's peremptory challenges in a racially discriminatory manner: I do not find that any exercise of peremptory challenges by the State were intentionally race oriented.... I do not believe that the State exercised those challenges with the purpose of excluding black females. I don't think that [the prosecutor] had a conscious intent to strike black females. I do think that [the prosecutor] had an intent to get to Raymond Brown, and I believe the State's explanation. You wanted Raymond Brown. And you may have challenged everybody and anybody. Unless a better Raymond Brown appeared between challenge 15 and challenge 22, [the prosecutor was] going to get Raymond Brown. That was your purpose in challenging six females, five of them being black. I find that to be your purpose. In this case, as in Hernandez, the trial judge believed the prosecutor's race-neutral explanation for exercising the State's peremptory challenges. The Superior Court rejected the defendants' assertions that the State's articulated reasons were pretextual. The Superior Court found no intent to discriminate on the basis of race. The record supports the Superior Court's ultimate finding. First, the composition of the first eleven jurors (three black males, four white females, and four white males) supports a determination that the State had not previously attempted to exclude blacks or women from the venire. Second, in addition to the five black women who were challenged, the State also peremptorily challenged a white woman and a white male, in an attempt to seat Raymond Brown. None of those individuals had all four of the race neutral characteristics which made Brown the State's ideal juror. Finally, although the State still had two peremptory challenges after Raymond Brown was excused for cause, it did not remove Margaret Brown, the black woman who was called after Raymond Brown and ultimately seated as juror number twelve, even though the next individuals to be called in the list of jurors were white. We have concluded that the record reflects that the Superior Court properly applied the tripartite Batson analysis. First, it was unnecessary for the Superior Court to determine that a prima facie showing had been made by the defendants' allegation of racial animus, because the prosecutor volunteered to explain the rationale behind the exercise of its peremptory challenges. Second, the record supports the Superior Court's determination that the explanation given by the prosecutor was race neutral. Third, the trial court's ultimate finding of no discriminatory intent was not clearly erroneous. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. at 98 n. 21, 106 S.Ct. at 1724 n. 21; Hernandez v. New York, ___ U.S. at ___, 111 S.Ct. at 1869. Accord Feddiman v. State, 558 A.2d at 286-287; Baynard v. State, 518 A.2d at 688. See also United States v. Uwaezhoke, 995 F.2d 388 (3d Cir. 1993).