Court Opinion

ID: 9736663
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:02:06.433408+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:07.970451
License: Public Domain

NIGRO, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority but write separately to comment on Appellant’s claim, although waived, that the trial court improperly refused to allow defense counsel to make a record of the race of the venirepersons for purposes of his Batson claim.1
*500During voir dire, defense counsel requested that the trial court allow him to develop a record indicating the racial composition of the venirepersons in order to preserve a claim that the prosecutor was unconstitutionally using his peremptory strikes to exclude African-Americans from the jury. The trial court refused, stating that “there is no way to determine a person’s race or color. I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think it’s proper.” N.T., 6/7/85, at 178.
In my view, defense counsel’s request was clearly reasonable in light of this Court’s general requirement that a defendant seeking to establish a cognizable Batson claim on appeal must make a record specifically identifying the race of all venirepersons stricken by the prosecution, the race of the jurors acceptable to the prosecution who were stricken by the defense and the racial composition of the final jury selected. See Commonwealth v. Hackett, 558 Pa. 78, 735 A.2d 688, 694 (1999). Given that such a record is, in essence, a prerequisite to preserving a Batson claim for appellate review, I believe that any time counsel makes a timely request to make a record for purposes of Batson, such a request should be granted.

. In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 89, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 1719, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), the United States Supreme Court held that the *500Equal Protection Clause prohibits a prosecutor from exercising peremptory challenges to exclude jurors solely on account of their race.