Court Opinion

ID: 9493829
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:20:36.095997+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:03.357220
License: Public Domain

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Because the prosecutor’s open admission that he based his decision to strike Ms. Burns partly upon her race constitutes direct evidence of unconstitutional discrimination, the state trial court was, in my view, required to make an inquiry into whether the prosecutor would have made the same decision absent the illegal animus. The state trial court never made the necessary finding on this crucial factual matter, however, nor did the Missouri Supreme Court, because it applied the wrong legal standard. The Supreme Court of Missouri merely held that “the prosecutor’s decision to strike [Ms. Burns] was not based solely on race or upon any assumptions about persons of [her] race,” Weav*1033er, 912 S.W.2d at 509 (emphasis supplied). This holding begs the question because the relevant issue is not whether the prosecutor based his strike solely on race, but whether he would have stricken Ms. Burns had race not been a motivation. See Dar-den, 70 F.3d at 1531-32. I believe that this legal error involved at the very least an unreasonable application of Batson.
I also think, moreover, that the district court erred in holding, essentially, that it would be unreasonable to find on the record before the state trial court that the prosecutor would have made the same decision absent the unconstitutional animus. For that reason, I would remand to the district court with directions to issue a writ of habeas corpus ordering Mr. Weaver’s release unless within 120 days the state court makes a finding in accordance with the principles laid down in Batson. See Coulter v. Gilmore, 155 F.3d 912, 922 (7th Cir.1998). In other words, on remand, the state court would be obliged to decide whether the prosecutor would have stricken Ms. Burns but for her color. If he would not have, Mr. Weaver would be entitled to relief.
I therefore respectfully dissent.