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PEOPLE DID NOT PROVIDE A SUFFICIENT RACE-NEUTRAL REASON FOR STRIKING AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN JUROR, CONVICTION REVERSED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined that the People did not provide a sufficient race-neutral reason for striking an African-American juror. The case had been remitted for a hearing on the issue:

We agree with defendant that the People failed to meet their burden at step two of the Batson analysis to articulate a “race-neutral reason” for striking the prospective juror … . On remittal, the prosecutor testified that he did not remember his reason for striking the prospective juror at issue, but stated that it had “nothing to do with race.” The prosecutor testified that, instead, “there was something on [the prospective juror’s] jury questionnaire . . . that [he] did not particularly like,” which would have provided a basis for exercising a peremptory challenge if he “could not clarify [that] issue” during voir dire. The prosecutor, however, had no recollection of the subject prospective juror’s actual questionnaire, which, apparently, was not preserved.

We conclude that the prosecutor’s articulated reason for striking the only African-American prospective juror was insufficient to satisfy the People’s burden. As noted, the prosecutor could not recall a specific reason for striking the prospective juror, but rather assured the court in a conclusory fashion that the challenge was not based on race and was based, instead, on “something” in the prospective juror’s questionnaire. Thus, the prosecutor’s explanation “amounted to little more than a denial of discriminatory purpose and a general assertion of good faith” … . Where, as here, “the facts establish, prima facie, purposeful discrimination and the prosecutor does not come forward with a neutral explanation for his action, . . . precedents require that [defendant’s] conviction be reversed” … . People v Davis, 2018 NY Slip Op 07569, Fourth Dept 11-9-18

CRIMINAL LAW (PEOPLE DID NOT PROVIDE A SUFFICIENT RACE-NEUTRAL REASON FOR STRIKING AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN JUROR, CONVICTION REVERSED (FOURTH DEPT))/JURORS (CRIMINAL LAW, PEOPLE DID NOT PROVIDE A SUFFICIENT RACE-NEUTRAL REASON FOR STRIKING AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN JUROR, CONVICTION REVERSED (FOURTH DEPT))/BATSON CHALLENGE (CRIMINAL LAW, JURORS, PEOPLE DID NOT PROVIDE A SUFFICIENT RACE-NEUTRAL REASON FOR STRIKING AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN JUROR, CONVICTION REVERSED (FOURTH DEPT))

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