In this thread, Bricker implies that the practical effect of Batsonwas to eliminate race-based jury selection as a reason for appealing a conviction.
I was reading some of the CT Supreme Court decisions in the appeals of a group of related cases involving two brothers, Russell and Adrian Peeler. In Adrian’s case, his attorney challenged the conviction based on the dismissal of one venireman, a black woman. The attorney had raised a Batson challenge during jury selection, but the trial court had accepted the prosecution’s explanation. The opinion is State of Connecticut v. Adrian Peeler (SC 16571) (Warning! PDF file!).
Given the earlier discussion in that thread, I have the following questions:
1: CT, at least, seems to allow appeals on claims racially discriminatory jury selection, even if the trial court rejects a Batson claim. Is this generally the case? Bricker seems to imply that this is not the case, but I may not be reading his statements correctly.
2: How often is a Batson challenge upheld, in the experience of the working attorneys here? Is it just a song and dance that every one in the courtroom already knows the end result of, or do these challenges keep the prosecution honest[sup]1[/sup]?
3: Are claims of racially discriminatory jury selection raised based on the dismissal of a single venireman ever accepted? It would seem to me that logic would only raise a claim of discrimination if there was a pattern of dismissals.
[sup]1[/sup]I know that these challenges can be made by either side, but the thrust of the commentary seems to be focused on preserving the rights of the defendant.
It’s unclear to me where, in the linked thread, I suggested that an appeal was not permitted if the trial court rejected a Batson claim. What I said, or implied, in the previous thread was that such appeals are seldom successful. And, indeed, that’s true, as this case demonstrates. The trial court considered the defense’s Batson claim and rejected it, and the appellate court upheld that determination:
The reason that such challenges are so often unsuccessful on appeal rests in large measure on the standard of review. The appellate court gives great deference to the fact-finding of the trial court judge. Since the trial judge is in a position to assess the credibility of counsel as they offer their explanations, the trial court’s decision is overrulled only:
As I suggest above… success of Batson challenges was, in my experience, not common. What would usually happen is the judge would hear the challenge, say that he didn’t find a prima facie case established, but, notwithstanding that finding, invite the prosecution to offer up the race-neutral explanation. That way, the record got made - in other words, the judge wouldn’t be smacked on abuse-of-discretion for not finding a prima facie case and not even asking for the race-neutral explanation.
I suppose if the only African-American member of the venire was struck, you might have a chance at a challenge. But the more strikes there are, the better the case gets. Again, in practice, it would be inconceivable to me to hear of a Batson challenge based on a single premptory strike.
I misunderstood you, then. The part of your earlier post that brought the question to mind was:
I now see that the operative word here was “effective”. Apologies.
From what I read in the decision, the defendant appealled on the basis of only one strike. Would there be others not referred to in the decision? Or do you mean “…to hear of a successful Batson challenge…”? Or am I misunderstanding you again?
Lastly, if you could, what would you replace the current Batson challenges with?
My bad. I should have said “…a successful Batson challenge.”
Good question.
I suppose I’d favor eliminating the premptory challenge system entirely – you build the venire with random selections drawn from driver’s licenses and voting registrations, and if you can’t challenge a propsective juror for cause, they are seated.
That approach undoubtedly suffers from flaws as well, but at least one of them is not the unabashed gaming of the system that Batson now creates.