Opinion ID: 1101282
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the trial court erred by denying defendant's batson objections to the prosecutor's peremptory challenge of black veniremen.

Text: ¶ 15. While the availability of peremptory challenges is not a matter of constitutional right, the use of such challenges, when available, must be constitutional. Sewell v. State, 721 So.2d 129, 135 (Miss.1998). Key to our current peremptory challenge jurisprudence is Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), which applies solely to peremptory challenges and not to excuses for cause. Brown v. Blackwood, 697 So.2d 763, 772 (Miss.1997). In Batson, the United States Supreme Court held that the prosecution may not strike a member of the venire simply because that juror is black. Batson, 476 U.S. at 79-100, 106 S.Ct. 1712. A jury's status as all white or all black is not what violates Batson; rather, Batson is violated by the racially discriminatory use of peremptory challenges to strike jurors. Govan v. State, 591 So.2d 428, 430 (Miss.1991). ¶ 16. In Britt v. State, 520 So.2d 1377 (Miss.1988), this Court held that a defendant maintained a right to be tried by a jury whose members were selected in a nondiscriminatory manner; but, we further stated that the defendant was not constitutionally guaranteed that the jury selected had to mirror the community and reflect the various distinctive groups in the population. Carr v. State, 655 So.2d 824, 840 (Miss.1995) ( quoting Britt, 520 So.2d at 1379 (Miss.1988)). See also Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 538, 95 S.Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975) (Defendants are not entitled to a jury of any particular composition, but the jury wheels, pools of names, panels, or venires from which juries are drawn must not systematically exclude distinctive groups in the community and thereby fail to be reasonably representative thereof. (citations omitted)). ¶ 17. To establish a case of racial discrimination in the rejection of potential jurors, the defendant must show: [H]e is member of a cognizable racial group, and that the prosecutor has exercised peremptory challenges to remove from the venire members of the defendant's race. Second, the defendant is entitled to rely on the fact, as to which there can be no dispute, that peremptory challenges constitute a jury selection practice that permits `those to discriminate who are of a mind to discriminate.' Finally the defendant must show that these facts and any other relevant circumstances raise an inference that the prosecutor used that practice to exclude the venire members from the petit jury on account of their race. Booker v. State, 716 So.2d 1064, 1068-1069 (Miss.1998) ( quoting Batson, 476 U.S. at 96, 106 S.Ct. 1712 (citations omitted)). As we have stated, these components constitute the prima facie showing of discrimination necessary to compel the `state to come forward with a neutral explanation for challenging black jurors,' Collins v. State, 691 So.2d 918, 926 (Miss.1997) ( quoting Lockett v. State, 517 So.2d 1346, 1349 (Miss.1987) ( quoting Batson, 476 U.S. at 97, 106 S.Ct. 1712)), thereby meeting the first step of Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 111 S.Ct. 1859, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991). ¶ 18. Indeed, the Supreme Court outlined the Batson procedure in Hernandez: First, the [opponent of the strike] must make a prima facie showing that the [proponent] has exercised peremptory challenges on the basis of race. Second, if the requisite showing has been made, the burden shifts to the [opponent] to articulate a race-neutral explanation for striking the jurors in question. Finally, the trial court must determine whether the [proponent] has carried his burden of proving purposeful discrimination. Sewell v. State, 721 So.2d at 135 ( quoting Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 358-59, 111 S.Ct. 1859); see also McFarland v. State, 707 So.2d 166, 171 (Miss.1997). ¶ 19. In Thorson v. State, 721 So.2d 590 (Miss.1998), we stated that a Batson hearing was not intended to be a full blown evidentiary hearing, so the trial court was correct in not allowing a full-blown cross-examination of the prosecutor. Id. Yet, the defendant is allowed to rebut the reasons which have been offered by the prosecution. Taylor v. State, 524 So.2d 565, 566 (Miss.1988). But, when the defendant offers no rebuttal, the court is forced to examine only the reasons given by the prosecution. Bush v. State, 585 So.2d 1262, 1268 (Miss.1991). ¶ 20. It is the duty of the trial court to determine whether purposeful discrimination has been shown, by the use of peremptory challenges. Wheeler v. State, 536 So.2d 1347, 1351 (Miss.1988). This Court further has stated that: It is necessary that trial courts make an on-the-record, factual determination of the merits of the reasons cited by the State for its use of peremptory challenges against potential jurors. This requirement is to be prospective in nature. Such a procedure, we believe, is in line with the great deference customarily afforded a trial court's determination of such issues. Great deference has been defined in the Batson context as insulating from appellate reversal any trial findings which are not clearly erroneous. Obviously, where a trial court offers clear factual findings relative to its decision to accept the State's reason[s] for peremptory strikes, the guesswork surrounding the trial court's ruling is eliminated upon appeal of a Batson issue to this Court. Hatten v. State, 628 So.2d 294, 298 (Miss. 1993). (citations omitted). Further, [w]e will not reverse a trial judge's factual findings on this issue unless they appear clearly erroneous or against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Walters v. State, 720 So.2d 856, 865 (Miss.1998). ¶ 21. Pursuant to Batson, this Court has acknowledged that there are infinite number of grounds upon which a prosecutor reasonably may peremptorily strike a juror so long as the prosecutor presents clear and reasonably specific explanations for those reasons. Brewer v. State, 725 So.2d 106 at 123 (Miss.1998) ( citing Batson, 476 U.S. at 98 n. 20, 106 S.Ct. 1712). Indeed, this Court has implicitly recognized that a prosecutor may follow his intuition so long as his judgment does not tell him that black jurors would be partial to the defendant because of their shared race. Brewer v. State, 725 So.2d at 123 (Miss.1998) (citations and quotations omitted). Among the reasons accepted as race-neutral are involvement in criminal activity, unemployment, employment history, relative of juror involved in crime, low income occupation, juror wore gold chains, rings and watch, dress and demeanor. Foster v. State, 639 So.2d 1263, 1280 (Miss. 1994). ¶ 22. In the instant case, the defendant-Fleming-is black. The venire was comprised of 46 members, 10 of who were black. The final jury was comprised of 11 white jurors and 1 black juror. Eight of the potential black jurors were excused either for cause or peremptorily. ¶ 23. The trial court excused for cause 5 of the 10 black members. Of the remaining venire members, 3 of the remaining 5 black jurors were amongst the first 15 members considered for the jury. Of those 3 black members, the State struck members 5 and 8 while it kept member 11, whose husband is a police officer who was the victim of a shooting handled by the same district attorney's office handling the instant case. Fleming objected to such peremptory challenges. The trial court found the State's behavior to constitute a prima facie case requiring a Batson hearing. The court also ordered a Batson hearing on Fleming's objection to the State's peremptory challenge to member 22, another black member. ¶ 24. The State used strike S-1 on venire member 5, basing its decision on the facts that member 5 stated she knew defendant Fleming, that she stated she did not know whether or not she lived in his beat and found her response funny, that she heard gossip in the case, and that she was sitting with Fleming's family when the trial court moved the jury to the other side of the courtroom. As to the use of S-2 on member 8, the State based its reasoning on the facts that she answered no questions, that she was sitting in the area of the defendant's family, that she refused to make eye contact with the district attorney during voir dire, and that her husband is a fugitive. The judge found the State's reasons race-neutral. Fleming's objection was overruled. ¶ 25. Such decision by the trial court is reasonable given that the trial court is granted great deference. It is a race-neutral concern that both members 5 and 8 sat with Fleming's family; indeed such is enough evidence to infer that they may be partial to Fleming. Further, member 5 laughed at her response of not knowing whether she lived in Fleming's district; such behavior is suspicious. Also, member 8 is related to a fugitive and thus reasonably may be sympathetic to crime. Such reasons do not deal with the issue of race, so the trial court sufficiently met the requirement of a factual determination of the merits of the State's reasons. Hence, applying the aforementioned law to the facts, there is no error. ¶ 26. As to using S-4 on venire member 22, the State based its reasoning on the facts that she knows Fleming, that Fleming is a neighbor of hers, and that she has heard talking regarding the instant case. Once again, the judge found the State's reasons race-neutral. In Perry v. State, 637 So.2d 871, 874 (Miss.1994), this Court stated that the State provided race-neutral reasons for peremptorily challenging black females in that the State explained that the venire members were either neighbors or knew the defendant. Id. Given such a statement by this Court regarding the venire members's status as a neighbor of the defendant, it is only reasonable for the trial court to have granted the strike of member 22. From the above analysis, it is clear that the trial court acted appropriately. There is no error.