☢ test - Í
White v. State, 301 Ga.App. 837, 689 S.E.2d 120 (January 5, 2010). State’s strikes were race neutral: juror “was close in age to White and likely to sympathize with him.” Accord, Washington v. State , 310 Ga.App. 775, 714 S.E.2d 364 (July 13, 2011) (juror close in age to defendants). Allen v. State, 299 Ga.App. 201, 683 S.E.2d 343 (July 15, 2009). Strikes were race neutral: “As to the fourth juror, the State explained that the 21-year-old juror was young and also inattentive; Allen did not dispute this nor make a further showing. See Robert v. State, 227 Ga.App. 26, 488 S.E.2d 105 (1997) (age can be a race-neutral reason for striking a juror). Dryden v. State, 292 Ga.App. 467, 665 S.E.2d 341 (June 5, 2008). “A peremptory strike exercised on the basis that a juror’s age is close to that of the defendant is racially neutral. Ware v. State, 191 Ga.App. 896(1) (383 S.E.2d 368) (1989). Reticence in a juror is not otherwise.” Reversed on different issue, 285 Ga. 281, 676 S.E.2d 175 (April 28, 2009). Accord, Washington v. State , 310 Ga.App. 775, 714 S.E.2d 364 (July 13, 2011) (juror close in age to defendants). Williams v. State, 253 Ga.App. 453, 559 S.E.2d 512 (January 25, 2002). Acceptable race-neutral reasons for strikes where: Prospective juror wore a lot of jewelry for someone who was single, young and working for minimum wage. Hinson v. State, 237 Ga.App. 366, 515 S.E.2d 203 (March 30, 1999). Trial court properly re-seated juror struck because of “‘bad body language with him [, plus] his age and experience or lack of experience.’ The trial court noted that other jurors who were similar in age and experience were accepted.” Juror was a white male student; defense counsel used 11 of 12 strikes to remove white jurors. 8. STRIKES BASED ON DEFERRING TO DEFENDANT Thomas v. State, 299 Ga.App. 235, 682 S.E.2d 325 (July 16, 2009). Trial court properly found that defense strike was not race-neutral: “Here, defense counsel stated as reasons for striking this juror that, having written nothing in his notes about her, he considered her ‘an unknown, a ticking time bomb.... She [is] an older woman who is a housewife. My client is a relatively young black male who is accused of drug trafficking.’ [fn] Counsel also explained that he was deferring to Thomas's wishes. The trial court ruled that counsel's reasons were not race-neutral, because other jurors that had not been challenged had not given extensive responses. … Further, ‘the decision to defer to another's desires concerning the exercise of the peremptory challenges does not constitute the required racially neutral, case-related explanation of the exercise of the challenged strike [ ],’” quoting Congdon v. State, 262 Ga. 683, 684 (424 S.E.2d 630) (1993). Fact that counsel cited defendant’s race as a justification for the strike allowed the court to find that the other stated reasons for the strike were pretextual. 9. STRIKES BASED ON DEMEANOR OF JUROR (PHYSICAL DEMEANOR) Heard v. State, 295 Ga. 559, 761 S.E.2d 314 (July 11, 2014). Murder conviction affirmed; trial court properly denied Batson challenge. State’s strike based on juror’s demeanor was race neutral. “[T]he State explained that it struck Juror #8 because she failed to raise her hand in response to any of the general voir dire questions and responded flippantly when a prosecutor questioned her about this.” Richardson v. State, 328 Ga.App. 519, 759 S.E.2d 630 (June 26, 2014). Child molestation and related convictions affirmed; State’s strike based on demeanor was race-neutral where juror raised his hand when counsel asked “who doesn’t want to be here?” Second juror “was kinda nervous. She trembled and finally toward the end she turned around, took her sweatshirt and made it like a snuggie and relaxed up against the back wall not paying attention.” The assistant district attorney added, “And for the record, it's not cool in here.” Edenfield v. State, 293 Ga. 370, 744 S.E.2d 738 (June 17, 2013). Capital murder conviction and death sentence affirmed; no Batson violation where prosecutor struck juror who “was unable to answer some of the questions on voir dire, appeared extremely nervous, talked to herself, and seemed unable to understand questions asked of her.” “[T]he record supports the finding of the trial court that this juror was confused and ‘waffling’ throughout her voir dire.” Toomer v. State, 292 Ga. 49, 734 S.E.2d 333 (November 19, 2012). Malice murder and related convictions affirmed; 1. prosecutor’s strikes could be deemed race-neutral though based exclusively on demeanor. Disapproves language in previous cases “suggesting that at Batson step two, the proponent of the challenged strike can carry his burden of production only by offering an explanation that is ‘case-related’ and ‘specific’ in addition to being race-neutral,” including Veasey v. State, 311 Ga.App. 762, 766 n. 11, 717 S.E.2d 284 (2011); Parker v. State, 219 Ga.App. 361, 364,
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator