Opinion ID: 2598865
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Racial bias in the selection of the jury.

Text: The defendant argues the State's use of its peremptory challenges violated his equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as interpreted in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 84-89, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69, 106 S. Ct. 1712 (1986). This court's standard of review is set forth in State v. Vargas, 260 Kan. 791, 794-95, 926 P.2d 223 (1996): In reviewing a Batson violation concerning the State's use of a peremptory challenge, the applicable appellate standard of review is whether the trial court abused its discretion in determining if the challenged strikes were constitutionally permissible. State v. Walston, 256 Kan. 372, 373-74, 886 P.2d 349 (1994). Judicial discretion is abused only when exercised in an arbitrary, fanciful, or unreasonable manner, or in other words, when no reasonable person would take the view adopted by the trial court. Walston, 256 Kan. at 374 (citing State v. Wagner, 248 Kan. 240, 242, 807 P.2d 139 [1991]). The Batson analysis involves a three-step process. First, the defendant must make a prima facie showing that the prosecutor has exercised peremptory challenges on the basis of race. Batson, 476 U.S. at 96-97. Second, if the requisite showing has been made, the burden shifts to the prosecutor to articulate a race-neutral explanation for striking the jurors in question. 476 U.S. at 97-98. Finally, the trial court must determine whether the defendant has carried his or her burden of proving purposeful discrimination. 476 U.S. at 98. In State v. Bolton, 274 Kan. 1, 49 P.3d 468 (2002), we said that review of the first step (whether the defendant has made a prima facie showing that the prosecution has used peremptory challenges on the basis of race) is a question of legal sufficiency subject to plenary review. We also confirmed in Bolton that the standard of review for the third step (whether the trial court erred in determining the defendant has failed to carry the burden of establishing purposeful discrimination) was deferential: A reviewing court gives great deference to findings of the district judge in actions of this nature because the findings turn upon evaluation of the credibility of the prosecutor. 274 Kan. at 10. See State v. Douglas, 274 Kan. 96, 102, 49 P.3d 446 (2002). The defendant acknowledges the holding of the United States Supreme Court in Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 767-68, 131 L. Ed. 2d 834, 115 S. Ct. 1769 (1995), with reference to Batson's second step: The second step of this process does not demand an explanation that is persuasive, or even plausible. `At this [second] step of the inquiry, the issue is the facial validity of the prosecutor's explanation. Unless a discriminatory intent is inherent in the prosecutor's explanation, the reason offered will be deemed race neutral.' [Citations omitted.] The defendant argues that we should interpret the Kansas Constitution as providing more protection to its citizens than United States Constitution provides under Purkett. We rejected this argument in Bolton : Bolton presents no argument that would warrant this court to find the Kansas Constitution provides greater protection under this particular circumstance. Thus, the prosecutor is only required to put forth a facially valid reason for exercising a peremptory strike to satisfy the second step of the Batson analysis. 274 Kan. at 17. Nevertheless, the defendant also argues that his equal protection rights were violated under Batson and Purkett because the State failed to give factually correct reasons for the strikes of venireperson Spratt and venireperson Anderson. This argument is addressed below. The jury selected to hear the defendant's case was composed of two African-Americans, one Asian-American, one Native American, and eight white jurors. Following the jury selection, the defendant lodged a Batson objection. The defendant noted that of the 12 venirepersons struck by the prosecutor 10 were African-American. As to four of the African-Americans struck, the defendant on appeal concedes that there were legitimate reasons to strike venirepersons Blake, Fielder, and Collins and fails to mention venireperson McDonald. Thus, the defendant abandons any claim of error based upon these persons. The defendant's arguments concerning the remaining six African-Americans struck by the prosecution fail because he either failed to object to the prosecutor's factual basis for the race-neutral explanations or because the trial court did not err in finding that the State offered a facially valid race-neutral explanation for striking the venirepersons. On appeal, we accept as true the statements of fact given by the prosecutor for purposes of determining whether the prosecutor gave race-neutral reasons for the strikes if the defendant failed to object to the statements. Bolton, 274 Kan. at 18, see State v. Poole, 252 Kan. 108, 843 P.2d 689 (1992). With the exception of venirepersons Spratt and Powers, the defendant failed to object to the State's statements of fact as to the race-neutral reasons.