Opinion ID: 2510413
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Venireperson C.P.

Text: Trotter argues that the State failed to ask follow-up questions linking C.P.'s sunglasses to its conclusion that C.P. was disrespectful to the court. Again, Trotter's claim that the State had to specifically inquire about the link between its stated reason and the possible effect on the potential juror's service is without merit. Such a proposition runs counter to Kansas law which does not require that the reason be related to the case, persuasive, or plausible. Washington, 275 Kan. at 654; Bolton, 274 Kan. at 17. Body language and nonverbal messages can be considered facially neutral reasons for striking potential jurors. However, the trial court must be particularly sensitive when body language, alone, is advanced as a reason for striking a juror of a specific racial group. See, e.g., State v. Dean, 273 Kan. 929, 932, 46 P.3d 1130 (2002) (upholding a peremptory strike based on the prospective juror's eye contact with the defendant); State v. Pink, 270 Kan. 728, 732, 20 P.3d 31 (2001) (upholding State's strike of the only African-American juror because she smiled and nodded during questioning about whether police could lie even though the defense counsel did not observe these actions by the potential juror); State v. Arteaga, 257 Kan. 874, 879, 896 P.2d 1035 (1995) (allowing State to strike a potential juror who immediately and affirmatively nodded his head when asked whether police could make mistakes); State v. Poole, 252 Kan. 108, 113-14, 843 P.2d 689 (1992) (affirming the State's peremptory strike of a potential juror who would not speak up and appeared disinterested); State v. Hood, 245 Kan. 367, 376, 780 P.2d 160 (1989) (concluding that the State's peremptory strike of a potential juror who sat with his arms crossed and seemed to have personal hostility toward the prosecutor based on his tone and facial expression was facially neutral). The trial court was in a better position to judge C.P.'s behavior and the prosecutor's credibility regarding C.P.'s attitude toward the court. See Alexander, 268 Kan. at 620-21 (concluding there was no abuse of discretion because this court had no way of knowing the potential juror's demeanor or the State's subjective opinion of him). Moreover, C.P.'s sunglasses were not the only reason the State struck him from the jury. The State also struck C.P. because his son had been involved in shooting a police officer. The State's reasons for striking C.P. are race-neutral. Trotter further argues that the trial court should have granted his Batson challenges because there were nonminority jurors with the same characteristics as the stricken African-Americans. We have stated that the State's failure to strike a white juror with similar characteristics as a stricken minority juror is circumstantial evidence of purposeful discrimination. We then noted that, although this kind of circumstantial evidence may be sufficient to prove that the State's race-neutral reason was pretextual, it is not conclusive evidence as a matter of law. The trial court is required to evaluate the prosecutor's credibility in giving the explanation for striking a minority juror; this evaluation is entitled to great deference upon review. Bolton, 274 Kan. at 18-19. However, it is not the trial court's duty sua sponte to compare the characteristics of the final jurors with the characteristics of the people who were stricken. The defendant has the burden to create the record of relevant facts and to prove his or her case to the trial court. State v. Campbell, 268 Kan. at 535. Although Trotter discusses the characteristics of other jurors in his brief, he only brought Juror W.D. to the trial court's attention when he raised the Batson challenges. Trotter's attorney stated, I'm not going to go through in detail, but I specifically note [Juror W.D.] from Panel B expressed the same kind of reservations. Trotter's attorney failed to explain what he meant by the same kind of reservations. We have reviewed Trotter's claims, and they have no merit.
For his final issue, Trotter claims that the evidence was insufficient to support his murder convictions. `When the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged in a criminal case, the standard of review is whether, after review of all the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the appellate court is convinced that a rational factfinder could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.' [Citation omitted.] State v. Calvin, 279 Kan. 193, 198, 105 P.3d 710 (2005). Trotter argues that there was no evidence as to who actually shot Huff and Wallace. Because the State did not proceed on an aiding and abetting theory, Trotter argues that he cannot be convicted unless the evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the actual shooter. Trotter then notes that the only witnesses that named him as the shooter were his codefendants who had entered into plea bargains which required them to testify that he was the shooter in return for significantly reduced sentences. Trotter asserts that, under this circumstance, the police encouraged his codefendants to identify Trotter as the shooter. This resulted in his codefendants meeting together while in custody and colluding against him. Trotter then argues that because their stories are inconsistent, the codefendants concocted the story so as to comply with the plea bargains and the police officers' requirement that they implicate Trotter. Trotter's argument essentially questions the codefendants' credibility and bias. However, this court does not reweigh the evidence or pass on the credibility of witnesses. State v. Bledsoe, 272 Kan. 1350, 1359, 39 P.3d 38 (2002); see also State v. Green, 260 Kan. 471, 477, 920 P.2d 414 (1996) (rejecting defendant's claim that the evidence was insufficient because the witnesses' testimony was inconsistent or incredible). After reviewing the record, we find that this claim is without merit. Affirmed. LOCKETT, J., Retired, assigned. [1]