Opinion ID: 2672558
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Prosecutor’s Explanations

Text: “A prosecutor asked to explain his conduct must provide a ‘ “clear and reasonably specific” ’ explanation of his “legitimate reasons” for exercising the challenges.’ ” (Lenix, supra, 44 Cal.4th at p. 613, quoting Batson, supra, 476 U.S. at p. 98, fn. 20.) “Nevertheless, although a prosecutor may rely on any number of bases to select jurors, a legitimate reason is one that does not deny equal protection.” (Lenix, supra, 44 Cal.4th at p. 613.) A peremptory challenge may be justified by “a neutral explanation related to the particular case to be tried.” (Batson, supra, 476 U.S. at p. 98.) A peremptory challenge may be based on employment (see e.g., People v. Johnson (1989) 47 Cal.3d 1194, 1216, 1220), and “ ‘hunches[,]’ and even ‘arbitrary’ exclusion is permissible, so long as the reasons are not based on impermissible group bias” (People v. Turner, supra, 8 Cal.4th at p. 165). The basis for a challenge may range from “the virtually certain to the highly speculative” (Wheeler, supra, 22 Cal.3d at p. 275) and “even a ‘trivial’ 54 reason, if genuine and neutral, will suffice.” (People v. Arias, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 136.) Citing Wheeler, supra, 22 Cal.3d at page 276, defendant contends the prosecutor’s reasons were not valid because a lack of supervisory experience does not reflect a specific bias against the prosecution, nor does it indicate the juror will be unable to deliberate in the case at hand. While Wheeler explained that peremptory challenges are permissible to remove a prospective juror who harbors “a specific bias . . . relating to the particular case on trial or the parties or witnesses thereto,” (Wheeler, supra, 22 Cal.3d at p. 276), it also recognized that “the law allows removal of a biased juror by a challenge for which no reason ‘need be given,’ i.e., publicly stated: in many instances the party . . . cannot establish his reason by normal methods of proof . . .” (id. at p. 275). Therefore, as long as it is exercised in a nondiscriminatory manner, a peremptory challenge may be based on speculation that a prospective juror would be unable to decide penalty because he or she lacked supervisory work experience. Here, the prosecutor stated she desired jurors who could make difficult decisions such as those in the penalty phase of a death penalty case. It was her belief that this quality is demonstrated by a person who has had practical work experience as a supervisor and that those who did not have this experience were less likely to be able to decide hard questions. The prosecutor further stated that because the prospective jurors’ oral responses to the written questionnaire the trial court used during general voir dire provided only limited personal and background information about the prospective jurors, she believed this factor provided relevant and sufficient information to consider in exercising peremptory challenges in this case. “The proper focus of a Batson/Wheeler inquiry, of course, is on the subjective genuineness of the race-neutral reasons given for the peremptory 55 challenge, not on the objective reasonableness of those reasons.” (People v. Reynoso (2003) 31 Cal.4th 903, 924 [prosecutor’s subjective opinion that a customer service representative lacks educational experience to effectively serve as a juror, while “of questionable persuasiveness,” could properly form the basis of a peremptory challenge].) Therefore, a prosecutor “can challenge a potential juror whose occupation, in the prosecutor’s subjective estimation, would not render him or her the best type of juror to sit on the case for which the jury is being selected.” (Id. at p. 925.) If the prosecutor in this case genuinely exercised her peremptory challenges because, in her subjective estimation, neither F.J. nor J. S. had the “high stress” decisionmaking skills required of a capital juror, that explanation constitutes “an entirely valid and nondiscriminatory reason for exercising [those] challenge[s].” (People v. Reynoso, supra, 31 Cal.4th at p. 924, italics omitted.) Here, the prosecutor asked other non-African-American prospective jurors whether they had supervisory experience, and the defense, apparently sharing the prosecutor’s view that supervisory experience was a factor worthy of consideration, sought the same information from several other prospective jurors. We conclude the record substantially supports the trial court’s conclusions that the prosecutor’s explanations for peremptorily challenging F.J. and J.S. were genuine and not racially motivated. The dissent makes much of the fact that, in making the Batson/Wheeler objection, defense counsel asserted that “the two hangs [at the first trial] were black females.” Assuming the assertion, not otherwise supported in the record, was accurate, the trial court was aware of it and could take it into account in its ruling. It does not itself show discriminatory intent at the second trial. 56