Taylor v. State

Decision Date27 June 1991
Docket NumberNo. 74260,74260
Citation583 So.2d 323
Parties16 Fla. L. Weekly S469 Perry Alexander TAYLOR, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtFlorida Supreme Court

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender and Steven L. Bolotin, Asst. Public Defender, Tenth Judicial Circuit, Bartow, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Peggy A. Quince, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Perry Alexander Taylor appeals his convictions for murder and sexual battery and the related sentence of death. We have jurisdiction under article V, section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution.

Taylor was charged with the murder and sexual battery of Geraldine Birch whose severely beaten body was found in a dugout at a little league baseball field. Shoe prints matching Taylor's shoes were found at the scene. Taylor confessed to killing Birch but claimed that the sexual contact was consensual and that the beating from which she died was done in a rage without premeditation. Taylor testified that on the night of the killing, he was standing with a small group of people when Birch walked up. She talked briefly with others in the group and then all but Taylor and a friend walked off. Taylor testified that as he began to walk away, Birch called to him and told him she was trying to get to Sulphur Springs. He told her he did not have a car. She then offered sex in exchange for cocaine and money. Taylor agreed to give her ten dollars in exchange for sex, and the two of them went to the dugout. 1

Taylor testified that when he and Birch reached the dugout they attempted to have vaginal intercourse for less than a minute. She ended the attempt at intercourse and began performing oral sex on him. According to Taylor, he complained that her teeth were irritating him and attempted to pull away. She bit down on his penis. He choked her in an attempt to get her to release him. After he succeeded in getting her to release her bite, he struck and kicked her several times in anger.

The jury convicted Taylor on both counts. Upon the jury's unanimous recommendation, the trial judge sentenced Taylor to death. 2

Taylor raises three issues related to the guilt phase of his trial. First, he contends that the trial court erred by failing to conduct a Neil inquiry upon the prosecutor's peremptory challenge of a black prospective juror. State v. Neil, 457 So.2d 481 (Fla.1984), clarified, State v. Castillo, 486 So.2d 565 (Fla.1986), established the test for determining whether a party is exercising peremptory challenges on the basis of improper bias. The complaining party must make a timely objection, demonstrate that the challenged persons are members of a distinct racial group, and show a strong likelihood that they were challenged because of their race. If the trial court determines that there is such a substantial likelihood, the other party must show that the challenges were not exercised solely because of the jurors' race. If the court determines no such likelihood exists, no inquiry into the challenges is required. Neil, 457 So.2d at 486-87.

During jury selection Taylor, who is black, objected to the state's peremptory challenge of prospective juror Farragut. Farragut was one of four black members of the venire and the first black to reach the jury box. In response to the Neil motion, the prosecutor told the court that he was not systematically excluding blacks from the panel because the effect of striking Farragut was to place a black woman on the panel. 3 The trial judge stated that he could not at that time find that the state was systematically excluding blacks from the jury and did not require the state to give its reasons for challenging juror Farragut. Defense counsel then exercised a peremptory challenge against the black woman. Later in the jury selection, the state exercised a peremptory challenge against the third black prospective juror to reach the jury box. Defense counsel again made a Neil motion, and the following interchange occurred:

THE COURT: I will require the State to give a valid reason for exercising a peremptory challenge as to Jacqueline Boyd since there is no other black left on this panel other than Charlie Robinson, who unequivocally stated that he could never vote to recommend death. I now find the State may well be systematically removing blacks from this jury panel.

MR. BENITO [prosecutor]: My concern with Ms. Boyd would be the fact that she has two children [and] my reading of her questionnaire seemed to indicate that she lived in the area where this offense took place.

THE COURT: What was your first reason, Mr. Benito? The second one, merely because she lives in the area, I don't find is any reason peremptorily or not to challenge somebody. What was the first reason?

MR. BENITO: The fact that she has two children.

THE COURT: [Does] [t]he Defense want Jacqueline Boyd on their jury? ... Or [do] the Defense and the State want to excuse her, and then I don't have to worry about whether the State is systematically excluding blacks.

....

MR. BENITO: I was incorrect as to where she lived, Judge.... Judge, I will leave it up to the Defense. They can either have Jacqueline Boyd or Linda Custer, the one after Ms. Boyd.

MR. SINARDI [defense counsel]: Judge, again we would renew our previous objections to the State.

THE COURT: He is withdrawing it.

MR. SINARDI: That's fine, then.

Ms. Boyd served on the jury.

Taylor claims two errors occurred here. First, he argues that the trial court applied the incorrect standard when it determined that the state was not systematically excluding blacks and denied his Neil motion with respect to juror Farragut. Second, he contends that once the trial judge found, upon the challenge to juror Boyd, that the state might be exercising its peremptory challenges discriminatorily the court was required to obtain the state's reasons for the earlier challenge of juror Farragut.

We find no error in the trial court's initial refusal to require the state to provide its reasons for challenging juror Farragut because defense counsel did not demonstrate a strong likelihood that Farragut was challenged solely because of his race. Farragut was the first and, as a result of the withdrawal of the challenge to juror Boyd, the only black challenged by the state. We realize that under State v. Slappy, 522 So.2d 18, 21 (Fla.), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1219, 108 S.Ct. 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 mere fact that the state challenged one of four black venire members does not show a substantial likelihood that the state was exercising peremptory challenges discriminatorily, particularly since the effect of the challenge was to place another black on the jury. See Woods v. State, 490 So.2d 24, 26 (Fla.) (three peremptories exercised by state against blacks did not rise to level needed to require trial court to inquire into state's motives for challenges), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 954, 107 S.Ct. 446, 93 L.Ed.2d 394 (1986). The record does not reveal the requisite likelihood of discrimination to necessitate an inquiry into the state's reasons for challenging juror Farragut.

In support of his second contention, Taylor relies on Thompson v. State, 548 So.2d 198 (Fla.1989). In Thompson, defense counsel raised timely Neil objections when the state exercised several peremptory challenges against black prospective jurors. The trial court did not require the state to provide the reasons for the challenges. However, after the state exercised a peremptory challenge against black prospective juror Bell, the court found that the state was systematically excluding blacks from the jury and asked the state to give its reasons for the challenge. However, the prosecutor told the court that he could not be systematically excluding because "you got a black sitting on the jury after I excuse Mr. Bell[.]" Thompson, 548 So.2d at 201. The trial judge then determined that the state was not systematically excluding blacks, did not require the state to provide its reasons for challenging juror Bell, and continued to allow the state to exercise peremptory challenges against black jurors without explanation. Ultimately, the trial court determined that the state was systematically excluding black prospective jurors and required the state to explain its challenge to a black juror. Thereafter, the state continued to exercise peremptory challenges against blacks but offered explanations for each strike. However, the state did not give, nor did the trial court require, reasons for the challenges to the first black jurors challenged by the state. In determining that a Neil violation occurred, this Court concluded:

The record reflects that the trial court below clearly entertained serious doubts as to whether the state was improperly exercising its peremptory challenges. Accordingly, the court should have resolved this doubt in favor of the defense and conducted an inquiry as to the state's reasons for all the challenged excusals. Slappy, 522 So.2d at 21-22. These reasons must be supplied by the prosecutor. Here, the trial court conducted an improper inquiry because it failed to question the state as to each and every peremptory challenge exercised against blacks once it became clear that the state might be improperly exercising its peremptory challenges. For this reason alone, we must reverse.

Thompson, 548 So.2d at 202. Thus, once a sufficient doubt is raised that a prospective juror may have been eliminated because of race, "the trial court must require the state to explain each one of the allegedly discriminatory challenges." Williams v. State, 574 So.2d 136, 137 (Fla.1991).

However, the prosecutor's withdrawal of the challenge to...

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