You are here: / / IN THE FACE OF BATSON CHALLENGES, THE FACTS THAT A JUROR HAD SERVED ON...

IN THE FACE OF BATSON CHALLENGES, THE FACTS THAT A JUROR HAD SERVED ON A HUNG JURY AND WORKED AT A SOUP KITCHEN AND ANOTHER JUROR WORKED FOR A COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION HELPING HIV-POSITIVE DRUG USERS WERE DEEMED VALID, RACE-NEUTRAL REASONS FOR STRIKING THE JURORS, THE CONCURRENCE NOTED THESE REASONS WERE BASED UPON QUESTIONABLE ASSUMPTIONS (FIRST DEPT)

The First Department determined the reasons provided by the prosecutor for striking jurors in the face of Batson challenges were race-neutral. The concurrence called into question the validity of striking jurors on the basis of a “questionable assumption that social service workers, who volunteer in soup kitchens and work in HIV clinics, and persons who satisfy their civic duty as jurors in trials resulting in hung juries, are unduly sympathetic to criminal defendants:”

The court properly denied defendant’s application pursuant to Batson v Kentucky (476 US 79 [1986]). … The record supports the court’s finding that the nondiscriminatory reasons provided by the prosecutor for the challenges … were not pretextual. One panelist had previously served on a hung jury, which we have found to be a valid race-neutral reason for a peremptory challenge … . An additional non-pretextual explanation for challenging this panelist was the prosecutor’s association of her service as a coordinator at a soup kitchen with possible associations with drug users, which raised a concern with the prosecutor that she might have harbored sympathy towards a defendant charged with drug offenses. Somewhat analogously, we previously have found the absence of a racial pretext for peremptory challenges premised on a panelist’s social service orientation, which might lead the panelist to sympathize with someone in the defendant’s position … . People v Teran, 2019 NY Slip Op 03532, First Dept 5-7-19

 

You might also like
DEFENDANT IN THIS CONDOMINIUM ACTION WAS NOT ENTITLED TO A MANDATORY FORECLOSURE SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE.
QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER PLAINTIFF EMPLOYEE WAS TERMINATED (NOT A VIOLATION OF THE AT WILL CONTRACT) OR WHETHER DEFENDANT EMPLOYER VIOLATED THE NO ORAL MODIFICATION CLAUSE.
UNDER THE MULTIPLE DWELLING LAW, LESSEE WAS NOT ENTITLED TO RENT FROM THE SUBTENANTS FOR THE PERIOD DURING WHICH THERE WAS NO CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY (FIRST DEPT).
THE ALLEGATION THE A-FRAME LADDER SHIFTED FOR NO APPARENT REASON WARRANTED SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THE LABOR LAW 240(1) CAUSE OF ACTION, NOTWITHSTANDING DEFENDANT’S EXPERT’S OPINION THE ACCIDENT WAS NOT THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF PLAINTIFF’S INJURIES (FIRST DEPT). ​
ALTHOUGH THE TWO INDICTMENTS ALLEGED THE SAME MODUS OPERANDI FOR MEDICAID FRAUD, THE CHARGES INVOLVED DIFFERENT PARTIES AND TIME PERIODS; THE WRIT OF PROHIBITION SEEKING TO PRECLUDE PROSECUTION ON DOUBLE JEOPARDY GROUNDS DENIED OVER A DISSENT (FIRST DEPT).
DEFENDANT WAS ENTITLED TO A HEARING ON HIS MOTION TO SET ASIDE HIS CONVICTION ON INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE GROUNDS, WHETHER THE OUTCOME OF THE TRIAL WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT ABSENT DEFENSE COUNSEL’S MISTAKES IS NOT THE FOCUS OF THE INEFFECTIVE-ASSISTANCE ANALYSIS.
ACCELERATION OF A DEBT DOES NOT AFFECT THOSE INSTALLMENT PAYMENTS DUE MORE THAN SIX YEARS BEFORE THE ACTION ON THE NOTES WAS COMMENCED, ACTION ON THOSE PAYMENTS IS TIME-BARRED (FIRST DEPT).
WHERE A JURY NOTE DOES NOT UNAMBIGUOUSLY DESCRIBE A REQUESTED EXHIBIT, THE NOTE MUST BE READ OR SHOWN TO THE PARTIES AND THE PARTIES MUST BE ALLOWED INPUT RE: THE PROPER RESPONSE; HERE THE JUDGE DID NOT FOLLOW THAT PROCEDURE AND THE CONVICTIONS WERE REVERSED (FIRST DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2025 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

EVIDENCE THAT DEFENDANT SEX OFFENDER SUFFERS FROM UNSPECIFIED PARAPHILIC DISORDER... PLAINTIFF ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON HIS LABOR LAW 240 (1) CAUSE OF ACTION,...