Opinion ID: 2069959
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Alleged Racial Bias of Berks County Jury Selection Procedure

Text: Johnson next alleges that he was denied a fair and impartial jury because the jury selection procedure utilized in Berks County has a racial bias, in violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. To establish a violation of the requirement that the pool of prospective jurors is a fair representation of the community, a defendant must show that: (1) the group allegedly excluded is a distinctive group in the community; (2) the representation of this group in venires from which juries are selected is not fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such people in the community; and (3) this under[-]representation is due to systematic exclusion of the group in the jury selection process. Commonwealth v. Craver, 547 Pa. 17, 688 A.2d 691, 696 (1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 834, 118 S.Ct. 104, 139 L.Ed.2d 58 (1997) (quoting Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357, 364, 99 S.Ct. 664, 58 L.Ed.2d 579 (1979)). `Systematic' means caused by or inherent in the system by which juries were selected. Id. (quoting Duren, 439 U.S. at 366-367, 99 S.Ct. 664). Specifically, Johnson complains that Berks County's use of driver's registration lists as the basis for the jury pool has the effect of systematically excluding minorities. In Commonwealth v. Bridges, 563 Pa. 1, 757 A.2d 859 (2000), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 2306, 152 L.Ed.2d 1061 (2002), the same Bridges involved in the case sub judice, we rejected a similar claim that a jury pool compiled from voter registration lists systematically excluded minorities. In Bridges, we stated that a criminal defendant may not attack the racial composition of jury panels drawn from voter registration lists on the theory that blacks are underrepresented in voter lists because such computer generated lists are compiled without regard to race. Id. at 868 (quoting Commonwealth v. Henry, 524 Pa. 135, 569 A.2d 929, 933 (1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 931, 111 S.Ct. 1338, 113 L.Ed.2d 269 (1991)) (internal quotation omitted); see also Commonwealth v. Abu-Jamal, 553 Pa. 485, 720 A.2d 79, 114 (1998), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 810, 120 S.Ct. 41, 145 L.Ed.2d 38 (1999); Commonwealth v. Ronald Jones, 465 Pa. 473, 350 A.2d 862, 866 (1976). Likewise, driver's license lists are compiled without regard to race. Other than a bald statement that [c]ustomarily African Americans and Hispanics have been inadequately represented in driver's license registration lists[,] (Brief of Johnson, page 73) Johnson makes no argument that the method used to select drivers is inherently biased. Absent some showing that driver's license selection procedures are inherently biased, Johnson has failed to distinguish jury pool lists derived from voter registration records from those derived from driver's license registration lists. Accordingly, Johnson has failed to establish a constitutional violation.