Batson was found guilty of second degree burgurly and receipt of stolen goods. During jury selection the prosecutor on the case decided to use his Peremptory Strikes to remove all four black jurors which left a jury of all white persons. The defense moved to srike the jury before the court swore them in on the basis that the P{prosecutors removal of the black jurors violated the petitioners Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Counsel requested a hearing on the motion and was denied by the Judge who reasoned that the cross-section requirement only applied to the selecting of the venire not the Petit Jury. The case was heard and the defendant was found guilty on both counts.
The findings of the Supreme Court were that the Petitioner was discriminated against. He was denied equal protection through the states Peremptory Challenges. The Supreme Court decided that Batson was discriminated against and that the Constitution of the United States forbids all forms of purposeful racial discrimination in the selection of not only the Venire but also the Petit jury. Since the Fourteenth Amendment protects the defendant throughout the court proceedings up to bringing him to trial, the State should not use neutral means in drawing a jury list and then turn to discrimination in the selection process.
The State Prosecutor can use the peremptory challenges any way he or she wishes as long as it does not conflict the Equal protection Clause protects the individuals or races that could be discriminated against during a jury selection.
In Strauder V W. Virginia it was decided that the defendant does not have the right to a petit jury composed completely or partially of ones own race. The defendant does however have the right to be tried by a jury composed of members who are selected considering a non-disrinatory criteria.
The selection of a jury that excludes one minority undermines the public belief that we have e a system which does not place judgment due to the color of ones skin.
The Supreme Court held in Furman v. ... Based on and despite the efforts of Gregg v. ... More recent studies, post Gregg v. ... The General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed 28 studies regarding the race of the defendant and the race of the victim in several states, including California, Illinois, Kentucky and New Jersey. ... (Witherspoon v. ...
1. INTRODUCTION In 1988, the now-bestselling author and former lawyer John Grisham had his first book published. Entitled "A Time to Kill", the novel presented the story of a small Mississippi town that becomes the scene of a spectacular trial: After two white men rape his daughter, her black father named Carl Lee Hailey shoots them. He then hires the white street lawyer Jake Brigance as his attorney, who also defended his brother in a different case. A wave of racial tension hits the town, with its citizens taking sides, the black community organizing marches and the Ku-Klux-Klan ...
