NCJ Number
125693
Editor(s)
L L Weinreb
Date Published
1990
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents an edited version of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Batson v. Kentucky (1986), which involved a re-examination of that portion of Swain v. Alabama (1965) that pertains to the evidentiary burden placed on a criminal defendant who claims that he has been denied equal protection through the State's use of peremptory challenges to exclude members of his race from the petit jury.
Abstract
The Supreme Court of Kentucky had affirmed the conviction of the trial court, holding that the defendant could not demonstrate systematic exclusion of a group of jurors from the venire. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed this decision because the trial court flatly rejected the defendant's timely objection to the prosecutor's removal of all black persons on the venire without requiring the prosecutor to give an explanation for his action. The Court further held that if the trial court decides that the facts establish, prima facie, purposeful discrimination and the prosecutor does not come forward with a neutral explanation for his action, U.S. Supreme Court precedents, notably Swain v. Alabama, require a reversal of the conviction. 25 footnotes.