Opinion ID: 2624500
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Find a Prima Facie Case As to First Challenge to a Black Prospective Juror

Text: The prosecutor exercised his second peremptory challenge to excuse L.F., the only Black in the first group of 20 prospective jurors. Defendant renewed his Batson/Wheeler motion, arguing that the challenge to the only Black prospective juror under consideration, standing alone, was sufficient to establish a prima facie case of discrimination. The court ruled defendant had not made a prima facie showing and denied the motion. The court nonetheless invited the prosecutor to give a further explanation of his reasons for challenging L.F. [9] (6) Defendant now argues the trial court applied the wrong legal standard in denying the motion. We disagree. In the first stage of an inquiry under Batson/Wheeler, the burden rests on the defendant to `show[] that the totality of the relevant facts gives rise to an inference of discriminatory purpose.' ( Johnson v. California (2005) 545 U.S. 162, 168 [162 L.Ed.2d 129, 125 S.Ct. 2410]; accord, Miller-El v. Dretke (2005) 545 U.S. 231, 239 [162 L.Ed.2d 196, 125 S.Ct. 2317]; Batson, supra, 476 U.S. at p. 96.) Contrary to defendant's assertion that the trial court had required him to show a strong likelihood that the prosecution challenged L.F. with discriminatory purpose, the court correctly looked for evidence from . . . which one might draw certain inferences of discrimination, and found none. The court reasoned that a pattern of discrimination was circumstantial evidence from which one might draw inferences, but correctly rejected defendant's argument that the challenge of the only Black person subject to challenge was sufficient in and of itself to suggest a pattern. (See People v. Bonilla, supra, 41 Cal.4th at pp. 342-343 [the challenge of one or two jurors rarely suggests a pattern of impermissible exclusion].) The trial court properly found no prima facie case of discriminatory intent with the challenge of L.F.