Puckett v. State

• Decision Date: 28 June 2001
• Docket Number: No. 1999-DP-01437-SCT., No. 96-DP-00867-SCT
• Citation: 788 So.2d 752
• Parties: Larry Matthew PUCKETT v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

788 So.2d 752

Larry Matthew PUCKETT v. STATE of Mississippi.

Nos. 96-DP-00867-SCT, 1999-DP-01437-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 28, 2001.

Michael Adelman, Hattiesburg, for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Leslie S. Lee, for Appellee.

EN BANC.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

SMITH, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. The motion for rehearing is denied. The original opinions are withdrawn, and these opinions are substituted therefor.

¶ 2. Larry Matthew Puckett was convicted of capital murder on August 2, 1996, in the Forrest County Circuit Court and sentenced to death. On direct appeal, this Court remanded the case to the circuit court for a Batson hearing. On remand, the trial court denied Puckett's Batson motion, and Puckett appeals to this Court.

¶ 3. After careful review, this Court concludes that the trial court erred in finding that Puckett failed to establish a prima facie case of purposeful racial discrimination. However, the State proceeded to give reasons for the strikes of certain minority jurors, and the trial court held that the reasons given were in fact race neutral. We agree that the State gave sufficiently race-neutral reasons for striking each juror. Therefore, we affirm the trial court's denial of Puckett's Batson motion.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 4. Larry Matthew Puckett was indicted for the capital murder of Rhonda Hatten Griffis on October 14, 1995, while engaged in the commission of the crime of sexual battery in violation of Miss Code Ann. § 97-3-19(2)(e) (1994 & Supp.1998). Venue was transferred from the Forrest County Circuit Court to the Circuit Court for the First Judicial District of Harrison County, Mississippi. The jury returned a unanimous verdict finding Puckett guilty of capital murder and subsequently returned a verdict imposing the death sentence.

¶ 5. On appeal to this Court, Puckett argued, inter alia, that the trial court erred in allowing the State to peremptorily strike black jurors in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), and Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991). Puckett is a white male, and his victim, Rhonda Griffis, was a white female. Out of the entire venire totaling 112, there were eleven blacks. There were five blacks remaining prior to the exercise of peremptory challenges. The State used all twelve of its available challenges, eight against whites and four against blacks. Puckett was tried by an all-white jury of six males and six females.

¶ 6. Without waiting for the trial judge to determine whether Puckett had established a prima facie case of purposeful exclusion of blacks, the State offered reasons for all peremptory strikes during jury selection. The defense counsel stated its rebuttal. The trial judge then ruled on each challenged juror, but failed to make on-the-record factual determinations or independent inquiry concerning each juror as required by Hatten v. State, 628 So.2d 294 (Miss.1993). This Court remanded the issue for the limited purpose of conducting a Batson hearing. Puckett v. State, 737 So.2d 322, 337 (Miss.1999) (hereinafter Puckett I).

¶ 7. The hearing on remand was held before Circuit Judge Richard W. McKenzie on August 23, 1999. On August 25, 1999, the circuit court entered its order finding that Puckett failed to establish a prima facie case of purposeful racial discrimination and that the strikes made by the State were race neutral. Puckett timely filed a notice of appeal on August 26, 1999. Puckett raises the following issue:

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING PUCKETT'S BATSON MOTION.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 8. On review, a trial court's determinations under Batson are afforded great deference because they are largely based on credibility. McGilberry v. State, 741 So.2d 894, 923 (Miss.1999) (citing Coleman v. State, 697 So.2d 777, 785 (Miss.1997)). This Court will not reverse factual findings relating to a Batson challenge unless they are clearly erroneous. Id. See also Woodward v. State, 726 So.2d 524, 530 (Miss. 1998); Lockett v. State, 517 So.2d 1346, 1349-50 (Miss.1987). "This perspective is wholly consistent with our unflagging support of the trial court as the proper forum for resolution of factual controversies." Id. at 1350.

DISCUSSION OF LAW

¶ 9. Puckett alleges that the State's use of four of its twelve peremptory challenges against black jurors constitutes a violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). The trial court found that Puckett failed to establish a prima facie case of purposeful racial discrimination and that the strikes made by the State were race neutral. Puckett contends that the trial court erred in denying his Batson motion.

A. The Prima Facie Case

¶ 10. Traditionally, to establish a prima facie case of purposeful racial discrimination in the exercise of peremptory challenges, the opponent of the strike was required to show:

1. That he is a member of a "cognizable racial group;"

2. That the proponent has exercised peremptory challenges toward the elimination of veniremen of his race; and

3. That facts and circumstances raised an inference that the proponent used his peremptory challenges for the purpose of striking minorities.

Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 97, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 1723, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). See also Walker v. State, 740 So.2d 873, 880 (Miss.1999); Lockett, 517 So.2d at 1349. However, this test was modified by the Supreme Court's decision in Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 415, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 1373, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991), in which the Court held that a defendant may object to racially-based exercises of peremptory challenges whether or not the excluded jurors and the defendant are of the same race. This holding, in essence, eliminates the first two factors required by Batson. Bush v. State, 585 So.2d 1262, 1267-68 (Miss.1991). Thus, the pivotal question is "whether the opponent of the strike has met the burden of showing that proponent has engaged in a pattern of strikes based on race or gender, or in other words `the totality of the relevant facts gives rise to an inference of discriminatory purpose.'" Randall v. State, 716 So.2d 584, 587 (Miss. 1998) (quoting Batson, 476 U.S. at 94,106 S.Ct. at 1721).

¶ 11. The record reflects that Puckett is white. The State exercised twelve peremptory challenges to the jury pool, four of which were for blacks and eight of which were for whites. As a result of these challenges, every black person was removed from the jury panel, and the jury that was eventually empaneled was composed entirely of white members. Puckett argues that by striking each available prospective black juror, the State created a pattern of strikes against black jurors giving rise to an inference of discrimination. This argument was rejected by this Court in Puckett I:

The fact that all four blacks were stricken from the jury does not necessarily create an automatic inference of purposeful discrimination. The State used all 12 peremptory strikes; 8 were used to eliminate whites. The case at bar is similar to the circumstances in Davis v. State, 551 So.2d 165 (Miss.1989). Specifically, in Davis, the defendant was black, and the all-white jury was composed of four men and eight women. However, even though the State had exercised seven of its twelve peremptory challenges to eliminate blacks, the trial court determined no pattern of discrimination was shown in view of the five challenges the State also used against whites. Thorson v. State, 653 So.2d 876, 898 (Miss.1994) (Smith, J., dissenting) (citing Davis, 551 So.2d at 170). Additionally, the case at bar is distinguishable from Conerly v. State, 544 So.2d 1370, 1372 (Miss.1989), wherein the State only used five peremptory strikes, all to eliminate black jurors. Had the State in the case at bar used only four peremptory strikes and only to eliminate black jurors, this would have been sufficient to create an inference of purposeful discrimination.

The inference of purposeful discrimination was not automatically invoked in this case.

Puckett I, 737 So.2d at 337.

¶ 12. Puckett also argues that in light of the evidence presented at the Batson hearing, this Court's recent decision in Walker v. State, 740 So.2d 873 (Miss.1999), mandates that the strikes made by the State in this case give rise to an inference of discrimination. In Walker, Walker objected to the State's use of seven of nine peremptory challenges against black jurors. The final jury was composed of ten whites and two blacks, though the population of Marshall County was fifty percent black. The circuit court held that Walker had failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination based on the State's seating of two blacks on the jury. The circuit court reasoned that if the State's purpose was to excuse based on race, it could have used all twelve strikes against blacks. This Court reversed the finding of the circuit court, stating that "the mere acceptance of other black persons as jurors is no defense to a Batson claim." Id. at 880 (citing Conerly v. State, 544 So.2d 1370, 1372 (Miss.1989)). This Court concluded that Walker had presented an inference of racial discrimination and that the trial court erred in failing to conduct a Batson hearing. Id. ¶ 13. Puckett argues that he presented an inference of racial discrimination by showing that the State utilized its peremptory strikes to strike each available black juror and that the statistical probability of having an all-white jury in Harrison County is very small. At the hearing below, Puckett offered the testimony of Dr. Stephen Mallory, an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Mallory testified that the black population of Harrison County is twenty percent of the total population and that blacks constitute forty percent of the voters in the First Judicial District of Harrison County. Dr. Mallory testified that, based on a percentage...