United States Ninth Circuit

Grant of a habeas corpus petition that challenged the prosecutor's decision to excuse nine black prospective jurors in the petitioner's trial for first degree murder of a police office, is reversed where: 1) applying the doubly deferential standard for reviewing a determination under Batson v. Kentucky, the California Court of Appeal's decision that the petitioner had not carried his burden of showing the prosecutor acted in a purposefully discriminatory way was not based on an unreasonable determination of the facts; and 2) the trial court's decision to preclude the petitioner from responding to the prosecutor's race-neutral explanation for his strikes was harmless.

Appellate Information

• Published 2016/06/09

Judges

• IKUTA

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel