THE THREE-STEP BATSON PROCEDURE WAS NOT FOLLOWED WHEN THE DEFENDANT OBJECTED TO THE PEOPLE’S PEREMPTORY CHALLENGE TO AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN PROSPECTIVE JUROR, MATTER REMITTED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS TO SATISFY BATSON (FOURTH DEPT).
The Fourth Department, remitting the matter, determined the three-step Batson procedure was not followed when the defense objected to the People’s peremptory challenge to an African-American prospective juror:
After defendant made a prima facie showing of discrimination in step one, the prosecutor offered a race-neutral explanation for the peremptory challenge … , namely, that the prospective juror had a sister who was incarcerated for assaulting someone with a gun and that the prospective juror said that the criminal justice system could have treated her sister better. When defense counsel attempted to respond, the court interrupted him and stated, “I ruled. There is no Batson issue.” Defense counsel timely objected to the court’s ruling. In our view, defense counsel should have been “given the opportunity to argue that the prosecutor’s explanation[ was] a pretext for discrimination” … . * * *
… [W]hen it interrupted defense counsel, “the court improperly rushed and compressed the Batson inquiry,” precluding defendant from meeting “his burden of establishing an equal protection violation” … . To be distinguished are situations in which defense counsel does not make “any attempt to respond or protest[ ]” … or in which the court implicitly rejects the pretext argument by letting the challenge stand after hearing a defense counsel’s arguments concerning pretext … . People v Singleton, 2021 NY Slip Op 01638, Fourth Dept 3-19-21