Court Opinion

ID: 9718840
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:36:00.699604+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:03.147788
License: Public Domain

HANSON, Justice,
(specially concurring).
Although I agree with the majority’s conclusion that it was not error for the district court to overrule White’s objection to the state’s peremptory challenge of Juror S, I write separately to state a different rationale for that conclusion.
It should be noted that the jury selection in White’s trial preceded the filing of our decision in State v. Reiners, 664 N.W.2d 826 (2003). As a result, the district court did not have the benefit of our direction in that case that each step of the Batson analysis be clearly demarcated and explained. Id. at 832. I would conclude that the district court in this case likewise merged the three steps, discussing pretext issues appropriate to step three during the *510analysis of a prima facie case under step one. I would reiterate that, for purposes of appellate review, it is important that the district court analyze each step of the Bat-son process separately and on the record.
I believe that the majority opinion allows the district court to set too high the threshold for establishing a prima facie case in step one.1 As one court has observed:
The prima facie standard is not a high one; the defendant is not required to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that discrimination occurred. Rather, the defendant must present evidence sufficient to raise an inference that discrimination occurred.
Valdez v. People, 966 P.2d 587, 590 (Colo.1998).2
It is true that the mere fact that the potential juror stricken is a member of a minority racial group does not establish a prima facie showing of discrimination and that other circumstances must also support an inference that the challenge was based on race. But I would conclude that the state’s peremptory challenge of a Native American prospective juror, when combined with the circumstances that the prospective juror was married to an African American, the defendant is an African American, and one of the victims may be a Caucasian woman,3 establishes a prima fa-cie case of discrimination as a matter of law.4
The majority points out that the grounds stated by White for his Batson objection were without merit. White argued that the state had established a “pattern” of challenging prospective jurors with any connection to an African American. I agree that the record does not support that argument. But the district court was not free to limit its analysis to the grounds stated by White. Stated conversely, White did not waive his Batson objection by stating inappropriate grounds. This is because the district court bears the ultimate responsibility for assuring the absence of racial discrimination in the selection of jurors and the court must raise the Batson objection sua sponte whenever the circumstances of a peremptory challenge suggest the possibility of discrimination. State v. McRae, 494 N.W.2d 252, 257 (Minn.1992) (“[T]he trial *511court has the duty to decide if there has been purposeful discrimination.”). Minn. R.Crim. P. 26.02, subd. 6a (3)(c) (“If the objection was initially raised by the court, it shall determine, after such hearing as it deems appropriate, whether the peremptory challenge was exercised in a purposeful discriminatory manner on the basis of race or gender.” (Emphasis added.)). See also Brogden v. State, 102 Md.App. 423, 649 A.2d 1196, 1200 (1994) (“A trial judge need not sit idly by when he * * * observes what he perceives to be racial discrimination in the exercise of peremptory challenges.”).
Having concluded that White presented a prima facie case of discrimination, I would proceed to consider whether the district court’s denial of his objection should be treated as a ruling on pretext. In State v. Henderson, 620 N.W.2d 688, 704 (2001), we said:
In finding that the state’s questions were not subterfuge and did not reflect any racial motive, the district court’s conclusion could be viewed effectively as a ruling on pretext rather than on whether Henderson made out his prima facie case. Where a district court resolves the issue of pretext first instead of addressing whether a prima facie case was made, ‘the issue whether the defendant established a prima facie case of the discriminatory use of a peremptory strike is moot.’
(quoting from State v. Gaitan, 536 N.W.2d 11, 15 (Minn.1995)). In Henderson, we concluded that the court did not err in overruling the Batson objection because, in part, “there is no clear proof that the prosecutor’s stated reason for the challenge was pretextual.” Id. at 704.
As I read the thought process of the district court in this case, I conclude that the court merged the three steps of Bat-son and ultimately resolved the objection on the basis of the third step, finding that there were several race-neutral reasons for the state’s challenge of Juror S that were not pretextual. The court’s concluding comment was that there were “three or four other articulable reasons that [Juror S] could be removed from the jury on a peremptory basis that have nothing to do with race, so I will deny the Batson challenge on that basis.”
The record supports the district court’s conclusion because Juror S’s aunt was on the witness list, her daughter had been prosecuted by the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office for a felony, and the presiding judge was the same judge who had sentenced her daughter. Although it would have been preferable for the district court to consider the race-neutral reasons for the peremptory challenge in step three of the Batson analysis, and to make specific findings that those reasons were not pre-textual, I would conclude that the district court’s comments satisfy step three of the Batson analysis and support the denial of the Batson objection.

. In fact, this is the first of the almost twenty Batson cases that have come to us where the district court purported to decide the Batson objection at step one. In all the other cases the district court either skipped step one or decided that a prima facie case had been shown. See, e.g., State v. Taylor, 650 N.W.2d 190, 201 (Minn.2002); State v. Martin, 614 N.W.2d 214, 222 (Minn.2000); State v. DeVerney, 592 N.W.2d 837, 843 (Minn.1999).

. Further, I disagree with the majority's conclusion that the clearly erroneous standard of review applies. Because step one of the Bat-son analysis tests the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support an inference of discrimination, that step involves questions of law, not fact. Accordingly, the appropriate standard of review for step one is de novo and the clearly erroneous standard should only be applied to the fact determinations made in step three. See, e.g., Valdez v. People, 966 P.2d at 590-91. Valdez looked for guidance to the standard of review used in Title VII cases to determine whether a prima facie case of discrimination has been presented. Id. at 591. These cases generally apply a de novo standard.

. The record is not entirely clear on the race of Tami Carlson because there was no testimony on the subject. A search warrant issued for her premises describes her as Caucasian or Native American.

. The only case where this court has even intimated that step one of the Batson objection may not have been satisfied is a case that had no racial overtones. State v. Stewart, 514 N.W.2d 559, 563 (1994) ("There were no racial overtones to the case since both the defendant and the victim are white, * * *.").