State v. Washington
| Decision Date | 02 June 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. ED 91668.,ED 91668. |
| Citation | 288 S.W.3d 312 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Everett L. WASHINGTON, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Mark Dean, Chesterfield, MO, for Appellant.
Chris Koster, Attorney General, Daniel N. McPherson, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, MO, for Respondent.
Everett Washington (Defendant) appeals from the Judgment entered by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, following a jury trial, convicting him of one count of second-degree robbery, in violation of Section 569.030, RSMo 2000.1 Defendant was sentenced as a prior felony offender to twelve years of incarceration. We affirm the trial court's Judgment and find the trial court did not err in denying Defendant's Batson2 challenge.
Defendant was indicted as a prior felony offender on one count of robbery in the first degree, in violation of Section 569.020, and one count of armed criminal action, in violation of Section 571.015, resulting from an incident on August 18, 2006.3
Defendant was tried by a jury on June 2 and 3, 2008. During jury selection Defendant raised a Batson challenge to the State's peremptory strikes, stating that all of the State's six strikes, other than the alternate, were African-American. After providing an explanation for the first five strikes and the alternate, the prosecutor stated with regard to venireperson Mays (Mays) that, "[Mays] has his hair in a very unique design of — I'm not sure if it's called dreadlocks or — but it is a very precise and very individualistic hairstyle, and I would prefer not to have somebody who is individualistic on the jury." The trial court found that the explanations provided by the State were race-neutral. The trial court then asked Defense Counsel if he had anything further, to which Defense Counsel responded that he did not.
The jury found Defendant not guilty on the charges of armed criminal action and robbery in the first degree, though guilty of the lesser-included offense of robbery in the second degree. Having previously found that Defendant was a prior felony offender, the trial court entered its Judgment in accordance with the jury's verdict. Defendant was sentenced on July 10, 2008, to twelve years of incarceration.
On July 17, 2008, Defendant filed his Notice of Appeal with this Court. This appeal follows.
Defendant alleges the trial court erred in denying his challenge of the State's peremptory strike of venireperson Mays, in violation of Defendant's right to equal protection, because the reasons given by the State in striking Mays were inherently discriminatory.
In reviewing a trial court's decision relating to a Batson challenge, the trial court is accorded great deference because its findings of fact largely depend on its evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Kesler-Ferguson v. Hy-Vee, 271 S.W.3d 556, 558 (Mo. banc 2008). This Court will then review the trial court's ruling on a Batson challenge for clear error, meaning the trial court's findings will be set aside only if we are left with the definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made. State v. McFadden (McFadden II), 216 S.W.3d 673, 675 (Mo. banc 2007).
However, on appeal a litigant is not permitted to broaden the objection presented to the trial court and is not permitted to rely on a different theory than offered at trial. State v. Clark, 280 S.W.3d 625, 628-29 (Mo.App.W.D.2008). Here, although Defendant raised an initial objection to the State's peremptory strike of venireperson Mays under Batson, Defendant did not challenge the State's proffered reason for striking Mays, either on grounds that the explanation was not race-neutral or the explanation was merely a pretext for racial discrimination. Defendant failed to raise at trial the arguments he now presents on appeal, and requests this Court to review those arguments for plain error under Rule 30.20.
Plain error review is a two-step process. Id. First, we must "determine whether the claim of plain error, on its face, establishes substantial grounds for believing that manifest injustice or miscarriage of justice has occurred." Id. An error is deemed "plain error" where it is evident, obvious, and clear. Id. "If evident, obvious, and clear error is found on the face of the claim, the appellate court has discretion to determine whether manifest injustice or a miscarriage of justice resulted therefrom." Id.
Defendant claims the trial court erred in denying his Batson challenge because the State's peremptory strike of Mays due to Mays's "very precise and very individualistic hairstyle" was impermissible racial discrimination.
The United States Supreme Court held in Batson that the equal protection clause guarantees a defendant that venirepersons will not be excluded from the jury venire on account of race. 476 U.S. at 86, 106 S.Ct. 1712. The Supreme Court reasoned that "[p]urposeful racial discrimination in selection of the venire violates a defendant's right to equal protection because it denies him the protection that a trial by jury is intended to secure." Id. at 86, 106 S.Ct. 1712. As such, the equal protection clause forbids a prosecutor from challenging a potential juror solely on account of the juror's race or on the assumption that African-American jurors, as a group, would be unable to impartially consider the State's case against an African-American defendant. Id. at 89, 106 S.Ct. 1712.
In Batson, the Supreme Court outlined a three-step process for evaluating a claim that a prosecutor has used a peremptory challenge in a manner that violates the equal protection clause. Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 358, 111 S.Ct. 1859, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991). First, a defendant, or opponent of a peremptory challenge, must make out a prima facie case of racial discrimination by raising a Batson challenge. Kesler-Ferguson, 271 S.W.3d at 559, quoting Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 767, 115 S.Ct. 1769, 131 L.Ed.2d 834 (1995). Second, the burden then shifts to the State, or proponent of the strike, to come forward with a race-neutral explanation for striking the venireperson, which must be something more than simply a denial of a discriminatory purpose. Id.; McFadden II, 216 S.W.3d at 675. The State's explanation need only be facially race-neutral and is presumed so unless discriminatory intent is inherent within the explanation. State v. Williams, 97 S.W.3d 462, 471 (Mo. banc 2003); State v. Readman, 261 S.W.3d 697, 700 (Mo.App. W.D.2008). Third, assuming the State articulates an acceptable race-neutral explanation, the burden is then on the defendant, or opponent of the strike, to show the State's explanation was merely pretextual, and that, in fact, the strike was motivated by racial discrimination. Williams, 97 S.W.3d at 471; State v. Johnson, 220 S.W.3d 377, 383 (Mo.App. E.D.2007). The trial court's primary concern in evaluating a Batson challenge is the "plausibility of the prosecutor's explanations in light of the totality of the facts and circumstances surrounding the case." State v. McFadden (McFadden I), 191 S.W.3d 648, 651 (Mo. banc 2006), quoting State v. Parker, 836 S.W.2d 930, 933 (Mo. banc 1992).
Here, Defendant's timely objection to the State's use of a peremptory strike to remove Mays satisfies the first step of our inquiry into a Batson challenge. Defendant noted that he was raising a "Batson challenge" and identified the cognizable protected group to which the venireperson belonged. State v. Barnett, 980 S.W.2d 297, 302 (Mo. banc 1998). The record shows that Defendant identified each of the venirepersons struck by the State, other than the alternate, as African-American, including Mays.
Proceeding to the second step of our inquiry of Defendant's Batson challenge, the prosecutor responded that he used a peremptory strike on venireperson Mays because "[Mays] has his hair in a very unique design of — I'm not sure if it's called dreadlocks or — but it is a very precise and very individualistic hairstyle, and I would prefer not to have somebody who is individualistic on the jury." After the trial court ruled the proffered explanation was race-neutral, Defendant did not challenge or further object that the proffered reason was not race-neutral or that the explanation was merely pretext for racial discrimination. Even when specifically asked by the trial court if he had anything else on behalf of Defendant, Defense Counsel responded, "No, Your Honor." Defendant now claims on appeal that the trial court erred when it denied Defendant's Batson challenge because the State did not proffer a "race-neutral" explanation for the strike of Mays as required by the second step of the Batson inquiry. Defendant argues that the reason offered by the State for striking venireperson Mays was inherently racially discriminatory and required the trial court to uphold the Batson challenge without proceeding to the third step of the inquiry. We disagree and find that the trial court properly found that the State's proffered reason for striking Mays was race-neutral, and did not err in rejecting Defendant's Batson challenge.
Critical to our analysis is the fact that a "race-neutral explanation" in the context of a Batson challenge simply means "an explanation based on something other than the race of the juror." Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 360, 111 S.Ct. 1859. The second step of the Batson challenge process does not require an explanation that is persuasive, or even plausible. Purkett, 514 U.S. at 768, 115 S.Ct. 1769. The issue is simply the facial validity of the prosecutor's explanation and "[u]nless a discriminatory intent is inherent in the prosecutor's explanation, the reason offered will be deemed race neutral." Id.; Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 360, 111 S.Ct. 1859. Even if a prosecutor's criterion might...
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