Court Opinion

ID: 9798151
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:41:04.898008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:01:11.187486
License: Public Domain

JORDAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
Except as to the discussion and resolution of the Batson claim, I join the majority opinion. As to the Batson claim, I concur in the judgment. Although the district court initially (and improperly) appeared to use the cause standard when sustaining the government’s Batson challenge to the defense’s peremptory strike of JMD, see Trial Transcript [D.E. 207] at 342, it later confirmed, see Trial Transcript [D.E. 209] at 10, that it did not believe that defense counsel’s proffered reason for the strike of JMD was genuine. On this record, that finding of pretext was not clearly erroneous.