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rape and aggravated assault affirmed; State’s strike of juror who “worked for and volunteered for a nonprofit organization which provided aid to imprisoned mothers and their children” was race neutral. “The prosecutor explained that this prospective juror's views towards people who are incarcerated might be biased as a result of her volunteer work and her employment in that area, and that she might be sympathetic toward people charged with crimes or in prison.” White v. State, 301 Ga.App. 837, 689 S.E.2d 120 (January 5, 2010). State’s strikes were race neutral: juror was struck because “because, while discussing his prior employment as a correctional officer, he mentioned being dissatisfied with the general state of affairs in the correctional facility. ” Henley v. State, 285 Ga. 500, 678 S.E.2d 884 (June 8, 2009). No Batson violation: Juror “closed his eyes and started talking to himself silently but conspicuously for a significant period of time while the juror next to him was standing up being questioned in voir dire. Given Juror 23's vocation as a pastor, the prosecutor assumed he was praying . She explained that the State did not object to prayer, certainly, but that this juror's conduct seemed out of place in the particular context of voir dire of a potential juror who was standing right next to him and being actively questioned.” Boone v. State, 293 Ga.App. 654, 667 S.E.2d 880 (September 23, 2008). Strike was race-neutral: “the juror … had a prison ministry , had been a character witness in a criminal case, and was related to another juror the State struck because he was previously charged with aggravated assault.” Roberts v. State, 282 Ga. 548, 651 S.E.2d 689 (October 9, 2007). Race-neutral reason: Unemployment (note, Court rejects defense attempt to equate unemployed jurors with retired jurors). Accord, Hodge v State , 287 Ga.App. 750, 652 S.E.2d 634 (October 9, 2007); Littlejohn v. State , 320 Ga.App. 197, 739 S.E.2d 682 (March 8, 2013); Minor v. State , 328 Ga.App. 128, 761 S.E.2d 538 (July 10, 2014). Hodge v State, 287 Ga.App. 750, 652 S.E.2d 634 (October 9, 2007). “A prosecutor ‘may strike from mistake, or from ignorance, or from idiosyncracy so long as the reasons do not relate to a juror’s race.’ (Punctuation omitted). Minor [ v. State, 264 Ga. 195, 198 (442 S.E.2d 754) (1994)]. In this case, the prosecutor asserted that she believed juror 14 had been unemployed, and she did not recall that the juror was a homemaker. The trial court was authorized to credit this explanation.” Glenn v. State, 282 Ga. 27, 644 S.E.2d 826 (May 14, 2007). Race-neutral reasons for strikes: Juror “was not stable in her life” in that she “was unemployed, a law school dropout, and she did not know where her husband, from whom she had been separated for two years, was located or what type of work he did.” Accord, Washington v. State , 310 Ga.App. 775, 714 S.E.2d 364 (July 13, 2011) (unstable work history and unclear employment status are race-neutral reasons to strike). Moon v. State, 280 Ga.App. 84, 633 S.E.2d 418 (June 22, 2006). Trial court erred in ruling that defendant’s justifications for striking jurors were not ‘race neutral.’ Trial court disallowed strike of juror who was an insurance company executive. “Counsel sought to explain that from having had insurance company executives on juries through the years, he usually had found them to be prejudiced against clients such as his. After the prosecuting attorney pointed out that there was another panel member employed by the same insurance company whom the defense had not struck, the court disallowed the strike. … But the record shows that this other person who was not struck was only an employee of the insurance company, not an executive. Thus, the two jurors were not similarly situated.” Taylor v. State, 279 Ga. 706, 620 S.E.2d 363 (October 3, 2005). Acceptable race-neutral explanations for strikes: limited educational and work experience ; juror “seemed odd,” and had limited education and work history; juror “ was unemployed and also demonstrated a lack of seriousness for the judicial process.” Benham concurs specially to urge trial judges to develop a record where jurors are struck for “seeming odd” or not taking the process seriously. Flanders v. State, 279 Ga. 35, 609 S.E.2d 346 (February 21, 2005). No Batson violation: juror was employed “as a social worker, and that it is the practice of [this DA’s] office to strike jurors with backgrounds in social work and psychology.” Accord, Horne v. State , 237 Ga.App. 844, 517 S.E.2d 74 (April 29, 1999); Demery v. State , 287 Ga. 805, 700 S.E.2d 373 (September 20, 2010); Bryant v. State , 309 Ga.App. 649, 710 S.E.2d 854 (May 23, 2011). Brown v. State, 278 Ga. 724, 609 S.E.2d 312 (November 23, 2004). Acceptable race-neutral reasons for strikes: “[J]urors with counseling and psychology backgrounds tend to require more than proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
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