Opinion ID: 759249
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Sixth Amendment Fair Cross-section Requirement.

Text: 31 Appellants argue that the fair cross-section requirements of both the JSSA and the Sixth Amendment entitled them to a venire panel that contained at least some African-Americans unless the government demonstrated that the under-representation was not due to a systematic exclusion of African-Americans in the jury selection process. 32 The Sixth Amendment requires that the jury venire from which a jury is selected represent a fair cross-section of the community. Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 528, 95 S.Ct. 692, 696-97, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975). In Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357, 99 S.Ct. 664, 58 L.Ed.2d 579 (1979), the Supreme Court held that a defendant may establish a prima facie fair cross-section violation by showing 33 (1) that the group alleged to be excluded is a distinctive group in the community; (2) that the representation of this group in venires from which juries are selected is not fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such persons in the community; and (3) that this underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion of the group in the jury-selection process. 34 Id. at 364, 99 S.Ct. at 668. The government may rebut this prima facie case by showing that a significant state interest [is] manifestly and primarily advanced by those aspects of the jury-selection process ... that result in the disproportionate exclusion of a distinctive group. Id. at 367-68, 99 S.Ct. at 670. 35 Appellants have satisfied the first prong the Duren test, but they have not satisfied the other two. Duren and its progeny make crystal clear that a defendant's prima facie case includes all three elements listed above, and each must be established before the government is required to justify an infringing selection procedure. See Duren, 439 U.S. at 367-69, 99 S.Ct. at 670-71; Ford v. Seabold, 841 F.2d 677, 681 (6th Cir.1988). 36 Appellants have not established Duren 's second prong, i.e., that the representation of African-Americans in venires from which juries were selected is not fair and reasonable in relation to their population percentage. Both Murray and Buckley have conveniently misquoted the Duren test and argue that because their particular jury panel contained no African-Americans, they have met their burden of proof. Appellants, however, must show more than that their particular panel was unrepresentative. Duren states that we look at the venires from which juries are selected, id. at 364, 99 S.Ct. at 668, and it has long been the case that defendants are not entitled to a jury of any particular composition--only to a panel from which distinctive groups were not systematically excluded. Taylor, 419 U.S. at 538, 95 S.Ct. at 702. 5 37 Appellants instead rely solely upon the court's statement that African-Americans constitute approximately 12% of the community. The evidence of record, however, weighs decidedly in favor of the government. Ms. Palmer testified that there were African-AmericansAmericans in the jury pool from which this particular venire panel was chosen. The judge stated that this was the first time he had ever seen a panel without any blacks on it. Out of a 250-300 person pool, it is not at all implausible that none of the 40 persons selected were black: statistically, only 30-36 members of the total pool would be black. Appellants have made no attempt to show that the number of blacks on previous panels or in the April to September pool did not substantially reflect their population percentage in the community. Thus, Appellants have not met their burden. 38 Furthermore, Appellants have completely failed to make any showing whatever of systematic exclusion, and therefore also have not satisfied the third prong of their burden. Appellants must show that the underrepresentation is inherent in the jury selection process used. Ford, 841 F.2d at 685. 6 Appellants have done nothing more than assert that completing a panel with persons stricken from other panels systematically excludes blacks. They have neither asserted nor provided even a shred of evidence indicating that only whites are reassigned, while blacks are thrown back into the small wheel. Obviously, more than a general assertion is required to satisfy the element of systematic exclusion. The district court did not err in holding that the jury selection procedures did not violate the fair cross-section requirements of the JSSA or the Sixth Amendment. 39