Court Opinion

ID: 9609232
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:24:18.204063+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:49.510206
License: Public Domain

PARKS, Judge,
specially concurring:
I vigorously disagree with the holding in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). As stated in *766Chief Justice Burger’s dissenting opinion, the peremptory challenge “is almost essential for the purpose of securing perfect fairness and impartiality in a trial.” Id. at 1734. Peremptory challenges are a means to achieve an unbiased jury that will not be sympathetic toward either the defendant or the State on the basis of some shared characteristic, such as race, religion or occupation. In effect, the Batson case forces a “challenge without cause” to be explained, making it a challenge for cause. Id. at 1739. Moreover, when making a peremptory challenge, the attorney necessarily acts on limited information or intuitive judgment. Enuniciation of a reason for the challenge based on intuition will be near impossible. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has held that a neutral, objective reason is required in order to safeguard a defendant’s equal protection rights. Therefore, I am bound to apply this rule.
In applying the Batson rule, the State failed to come forward with a neutral, objective reason for the exclusion of the two black veniremen after the appellant’s burden of making a prima facie showing of purposeful discrimination had been met. Accordingly, I must concur with the result reached by Judge Brett.