Reynolds v. State
| Decision Date | 31 January 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 75680,75680 |
| Parties | 16 Fla. L. Weekly 159 Patrick Anthony REYNOLDS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Nancy Daniels, Public Defender and Kathleen Stover, Asst. Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Edward C. Hill, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent.
We have for review Reynolds v. State, 555 So.2d 918 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), based on express and direct conflict with Parrish v. State, 540 So.2d 870 (Fla. 3d DCA), review denied, 549 So.2d 1014 (Fla.1989), and Pearson v. State, 514 So.2d 374 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), review dismissed, 525 So.2d 881 (Fla.1988). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.
The relevant fact of the present case is that the sole black venire member available for service on Reynolds' jury was peremptorily stricken by the state. Reynolds also was black. The defense objected under the doctrine of State v. Neil, 457 So.2d 481 (Fla.1984), clarified, State v. Castillo, 486 So.2d 565 (Fla.1986), and clarified, State v. Slappy, 522 So.2d 18 (Fla.), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1219, 108 S.Ct. 2873, 101 L.Ed.2d 909 (1988), and argued that the black venire member's answers during voir dire disclosed no valid reason for exclusion. The prosecutor countered only that there had been no "systematic exclusion" of blacks. The trial court agreed and declined to order the state to explain why it had stricken the only black. Reynolds, 555 So.2d at 918.
On appeal, the First District found that the defense had failed to satisfy Neil 's requirement of demonstrating a "strong likelihood" that the black venire member had been stricken because of race. However, the court acknowledged the contrary holdings of Pearson and Parrish. Id. at 919.
In Slappy, 522 So.2d at 20, we stated that
the appearance of discrimination in court procedure is especially reprehensible, since it is the complete antithesis of the court's reason for being--to insure equality of treatment and evenhanded justice. Moreover, by giving official sanction to irrational prejudice, courtroom bias only enflames bigotry in the society at large.
We then acknowledged what is self-evident--that the peremptory challenge is "uniquely suited to masking discriminatory motives." Id.
In Slappy 's companion case, Blackshear v. State, 521 So.2d 1083 (Fla.1988), we confronted a situation in which the prosecutor peremptorily excused all eight members of a minority. There, we stated that excusal of all the minority members was sufficient to shift the burden of proof to the state once the defense had made its objection under Neil.
Applying similar reasoning, the Second District has relied on federal law to conclude that
[w]e see no difference, in terms of the equal protection clause, between the striking of the only one black juror and the striking of the only two black jurors--or the striking of the only three black jurors, or more.
Pearson, 514 So.2d at 376. The Third District in Parrish, 540 So.2d at 871, has relied on the state-law principles announced in Neil and Slappy to reach the same conclusion.
We must agree as a matter of Florida law with the general rationale of the Pearson and Parrish courts. As noted in Slappy, the peremptory challenge is uniquely suited as a tool to mask true motives; and this mask becomes especially opaque when a peremptory strike eliminates the only minority venire member available for jury service. No pattern can be shown because there was no possibility of a pattern ever occurring. If the presence of only one minority member on the panel excuses the state from giving even the most rudimentary of reasons, then an improper excusal cannot be detected or remedied. In this way, the public justifiably might distrust the use of peremptories and the fairness of the jury selection process.
This is contrary to the spirit of Florida law, which clearly holds that even one improper excusal is sufficient to trigger the requirements of article I, section 16 of the Florida Constitution. Slappy, 522 So.2d at 21, 23. It would be absurd to say that, while this is what the Florida Constitution requires, there is no way of remedying an improper excusal if it happens to eliminate the sole minority venire member available. We thus believe that the question in this case, as in Blackshear, is whether the peremptory is used to eliminate all members of the minority. The fact that only one member of the minority was available for jury service is irrelevant. By eliminating every member of the minority, a "strong likelihood" is created that shifts the burden to the state to provide justification, once the defense has made its Neil objection.
The burden imposed on the state by this requirement is, at worst, minimal. It will entail no more than a minute or two of time. All that is required is for the trial court to ask the state why it has peremptorily excused the only minority member. All the state must do is give reasons that show a valid, nondiscriminatory purpose for the excusal under the standards announced in Slappy, 522 So.2d at 22. These reasons then will be evaluated by the trial judge, whose determination of the matter is given deference on appeal. Reed v. State, 560 So.2d 203, 206 (Fla.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 882, 111 S.Ct. 230, 112 L.Ed.2d 184 (1990). The slight inconvenience of this procedure clearly and unmistakably is justified as a means of preventing the injustice that would result if the only minority venire member could be peremptorily excused without accountability.
We caution, however, that there are some conceivable instances in which the state would be justified in excusing all minority members of the venire, whether their number is one or more. Slappy teaches that such excusals will be proper where the reasons given by counsel during the Neil inquiry are neutral, reasonable, and not a pretext. Slappy, 522 So.2d at 22. These qualities will be judged using a nonexclusive list of factors elaborated in Slappy. Id. Accordingly, we do not imply by our opinion today that it is always error to peremptorily excuse every minority venire member, only that it is error to do so where the excusal cannot be, or is not, justified by neutral,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Taylor v. Sec'y
...2873, 101 L. Ed. 2d 909 (1988), the striking of even a single black juror for racial reasons is impermissible. See also Reynolds v. State, 576 So. 2d 1300 (Fla. 1991) (striking of only black venire member shifts burden to require justification for challenge). However, on this record, the me......
-
Puckett v. State
...made prima facie case showing that prosecutor used eleven peremptory challenges to remove all eleven blacks from jury); Reynolds v. State, 576 So.2d 1300, 1301 (Fla.1991)("By eliminating every member of the minority, a `strong likelihood' is created that shifts the burden to the state to pr......
-
Files v. State
...process. See also Knight v. State, 559 So.2d 327, 328 (Fla. 1st DCA), review dismissed, 574 So.2d 141 (Fla.1990). In Reynolds v. State, 576 So.2d 1300 (Fla.1991), the court Reed vests significant discretion in the trial court on Neil issues by requiring appellate courts to show deference to......
-
Marshall v. State
...approved "the result reached by Pearson" in an opinion that did not focus on the remand for an evidentiary hearing. Reynolds v. State, 576 So.2d 1300, 1303 (Fla.1991). The Fifth District has expressed conflict with the remedy provided in Pearson and has certified the issue to the supreme co......