People v. Ojeda
Decision Date | 05 September 2019 |
Docket Number | Court of Appeals No. 15CA1517 |
Citation | 487 P.3d 1117 |
Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ray OJEDA, Defendant-Appellant. |
Court | Colorado Court of Appeals |
Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, Kevin E. McReynolds, Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee
Megan A. Ring, Colorado State Public Defender, Elizabeth Griffin, Deputy State Public Defender, Elizabeth Porter-Merrill, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant
Opinion by JUDGE FOX
¶ 1 Defendant Ray Ojeda appeals the judgment of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding him guilty of various charges. He contends that the trial court erred in denying his Batson v. Kentucky , 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), challenge when the prosecutor removed a Hispanic prospective juror from the venire. Based on the record before us, we agree that the court's denial of Ojeda's Batson challenge was erroneous. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of conviction and remand for a new trial. Given this disposition, we need not address Ojeda's remaining challenges.
¶ 2In 2015, after a six-day trial, a jury found Ojeda guilty of attempted first degree murder, second degree kidnapping, and first degree sexual assault for events that occurred in 1997. Ojeda's trial team advanced a mistaken identity defense and strenuously challenged the prosecution's reliance on old evidence.
¶ 3 During jury selection, the prosecutor first attempted to excuse Juror R.P., a Hispanic male seated in the seventh jury position, for cause based on (1) "the content of his questionnaire"; (2) "remarks that he made in open court"; and (3) "his demeanor." She explained that Juror R.P. expressed a "bias" against the criminal justice system and "visibly showed hesitation" when asked whether he could be fair. Defense counsel objected, noting that the prosecutor was mischaracterizing Juror R.P.’s answers, and highlighted Juror R.P.’s disclosure that he could be objective. Defense counsel added that Juror R.P. was one of the few Hispanic males on the venire.
¶ 6 The court denied the prosecutor's for-cause challenge, finding that nothing in Juror R.P.’s feelings or life experiences indicated he would not follow the court's rules or reach a verdict based on the evidence. The court also noted that Juror R.P. is The prosecutor then requested that the court repeat its ruling "with regard to the Batson issue," and the court clarified that it "didn't really reach [that] issue." Instead, the court expressed that it The prosecutor did not question Juror R.P. again before later using a peremptory challenge to excuse Juror R.P.
¶ 7 The prosecutor later used her fifth peremptory challenge to excuse Juror R.P. Defense counsel asserted a Batson challenge because he was "obviously concerned about excusing Hispanic males from the jury." In response, the prosecutor first incorporated her previous record on Juror R.P. (from the earlier for-cause challenge), then offered the following explanation:
¶ 8 The prosecutor continued by noting the racial composition of the jury box and of the group of prospective jurors recently struck by the defense. She then added:
¶ 9 Defense counsel responded that In explaining why the peremptory challenge was based on race-neutral factors, the court stated:
The Court will deny the challenge for cause as to [Juror R.P.], but there are abundant race-neutral reasons for a peremptory to be exercised. First of all, he too is a victim of a sex assault, as is his wife, and he struck the Court as remarkably unconcerned about those events in his own lifetime. His first thought when there was a discussion of the time [it has] taken to bring this case was that the victim had delayed disclosure. He does have an anti-law enforcement bend, so the Court finds there's a sufficient racially neutral basis for the challenge.
¶ 10 Immediately following the court's ruling, the prosecutor supplemented her record by noting that her notes reflected that when Juror R.P. heard the age of the case, he thought something might have gone wrong, which also caused her "particular concern."
¶ 11 The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids a challenge to a potential juror based solely on race. Batson , 476 U.S. at 89, 106 S.Ct. 1712 ; see also People v. Wilson , 2015 CO 54M, ¶ 10 n.4, 351 P.3d 1126. When a party raises a Batson challenge, the trial court engages in a three-step analysis to assess...
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