People v. James
| Decision Date | 10 July 1987 |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Craig W. JAMES, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Rose H. Sconiers by Carolyn Balowitz, Buffalo, for appellant.
Richard J. Arcara by Louis Haremski, Buffalo, for respondent.
Before DOERR, J.P., and BOOMER, GREEN, PINE and DAVIS, JJ.
Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him of burglary in the third degree and attempted petit larceny. He argues that the appeal should be stayed and the case remitted to the trial court for a hearing to determine whether the prosecutor used peremptory challenges to exclude black persons from the jury, in violation of his equal protection rights. We agree. A prosecutor may not use peremptory challenges to exclude black persons from a jury solely on the basis of race or on the assumption that as a group, black jurors could not impartially decide a black defendant's case (Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69). Batson is to be applied retroactively (Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649). Pursuant to Batson, defendant first must establish a prima facie case of discrimination by the prosecutor's use of peremptory challenges; this case consists of three parts: (1) defendant is a member of a cognizable racial group; (2) defendant is entitled to rely on the fact that peremptory challenges can be a vehicle for discrimination; and (3) defendant must show that (1) and (2) plus any other relevant circumstances, such as a pattern of strikes against black jurors or the prosecutor's questions and comments during voir dire, create an inference of discrimination. If defendant meets this burden, then the burden shifts to the prosecutor, who must provide neutral explanations for the use of his peremptory challenges; if he fails to do so, the conviction must be reversed.
We find that defendant established a prima facie case, and that there is a basis in the record to infer that the prosecutor exercised his peremptory challenges in a discriminatory manner (cf., People v. Wilson, 126 A.D.2d 970, 511 N.Y.S.2d 746). Five out of six black persons were peremptorily challenged by the prosecutor, and fifty percent of his peremptory challenges were to black persons. Additionally, defense counsel in moving for a mistrial on this basis had asserted that the occupations of the black persons challenged did not indicate the possibility of...
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