Court Opinion

ID: 9614726
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:27:40.361987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:38.535493
License: Public Domain

Benham, Judge,
concurring specially.
While I agree with the majority in Divisions 1, 2, and 4, and in the judgment of Division 3, I cannot agree with all that is said in Division 3 concerning the reason for the Supreme Court’s decision in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (106 SC 1712, 90 LE2d 69).
Unquestionably, one purpose of Batson was to “prevent the imposition of a racially discriminatory jury upon the defendant,” but I do not believe that was Batson’s only purpose. Another more important purpose was to improve the image of justice. It is not enough to *802revere the symbol of justice depicted by a statue showing a blindfolded lady with the scales of justice in one hand and a sword in the other. We must raise the public’s level of consciousness of the meaning of the statue in general and the blindfold in particular. The blindfold stands for the belief that justice is not a respecter of person or position, and that it does not tolerate the use of racially discriminatory conduct in any form in the courts of this nation. To countenance any infusion of racial discrimination in the trial process by governmental agencies is to tarnish the image of justice. Therefore, our abhorrence of racial considerations in the jury selection process is based on more than protecting a defendant’s right to an unbiased jury. It is also based on the belief that race has no place in determining whether a citizen should be allowed to serve on a jury. To believe otherwise would sacrifice justice’s image of impartiality.
Decided September 12, 1989.
Stephen H. Harris, for appellant.
Spencer Lawton, Jr., District Attorney, Gregory R. Jacobs, Assistant District Attorney, for appellee.
For too long we summoned minority jurors to serve, gave them orientation speeches about the importance of service, allowed them to be questioned on .voir dire about their fitness for service, and then sat back helplessly and watched them stricken from the jury panels through the peremptory process. Batson, at long last, brought an end to this horrible and unconscionable practice.
“The harm from discriminatory jury selection extends beyond that inflicted on the defendant and the excluded juror to touch the entire community. Selection procedures that purposefully exclude black persons from juries undermine public confidence in the fairness of our system of justice. [Cits.] Discrimination within the judicial system is most pernicious because it is ‘a stimulant to that race prejudice which is an impediment to securing to (black citizens) that equal justice which the law aims to secure to all others.’ [Cit.]” Id. at 476 U. S. 87.
The main opinion, by overemphasizing the number of minority jurors who actually served, misses the point which Batson sought to advance by stating, “In view of the heterogeneous population of our Nation, public respect for our criminal justice system and the rule of law will be strengthened if we ensure that no citizen is disqualified from jury service because of his race.” Id. at 476 U. S. 99.