Court Opinion

ID: 9646760
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:10:09.312984+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:41.648492
License: Public Domain

LEIBSON, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the Majority Opinion.
Further, in my opinion there is no basis here for speculation that the Commonwealth might have been attempting to exercise peremptory challenges in a racially discriminatory manner. The Commonwealth did not strike all of the black jurors. Two were left on by the Commonwealth, and one served.
The worst danger from an all white jury is the potential for race being injected into the discussion in the jury room. The Commonwealth’s exercise of peremptory challenges did not create a situation where this type of wrongdoing could occur.
In these circumstances there is no reason to suspect that the Commonwealth was seeking to exercise peremptory challenges in a racially discriminatory manner or that failure to utilize the Batson procedure prejudiced the defendant.