Court Opinion

ID: 9607644
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:01:04.369129+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:39.460583
License: Public Domain

PANELLI, J., Concurring.
I reluctantly agree that on the record before us, reversal is compelled under our opinion in People v. Wheeler (1978) 22
*729Cal.3d 258 [148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748] as well as the very recent United States Supreme Court decision in Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. — [90 L.Ed.2d 69, 106 S.Ct. 1712].
In this case, however, the trial court failed to expressly rule that defendant had met his burden of showing a prima facie case of the exclusion of jurors by peremptory challenge on the ground of group bias alone. In the absence of such a ruling, the prosecutor had no notice that he was required to justify his peremptory challenges. The trial court merely asked the prosecutor: “Mr. Martin, would you like to explain?” The prosecutor’s statement that he did not think he had “to give the court any reasons at this time” reflected his belief that the burden had not yet shifted. I am not at all surprised, then, that the prosecutor’s subsequent “off-the-cuff” reasons for the peremptory challenges fell short of establishing to our satisfaction a proper race-neutral justification for his peremptory challenges. This is particularly true here since the challenges to Jurors Buchanan and Chappell were made on a Friday and it was not until the following Monday that the Wheeler motion was made. Because of the importance of creating an adequate record for review when a Wheeler motion is made, we have said that the point should be raised in timely fashion. (Wheeler, supra, 22 Cal.3d at p. 280.) However, trial courts should be sensitive not only to the timeliness of the motion but also, as pointed out in the majority opinion, to the need for an express ruling on the sufficiency of the motion. Lacking a clear ruling on the sufficiency of the prima facie showing, which was absent here, prosecutors may be uncertain as to the necessity for justifying their use of peremptory challenges to particular jurors.
Lucas, J., concurred.
Respondent’s petition for a rehearing was denied December 18, 1986.