Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Making Peremptory Jury Strikes Without Defense Counsel Input after Objections Ruled Harmess Error.

 
Prosecutor giving nondiscriminatory reasons for peremptory jury strikes without defense counsel present to discuss objections is a harmless error.
 
 
 
       A hispanic man convicted of triple homicide by a jury with no black or hispanic people on it is not entitled to habeas corpus relief, in spite of the fact that his attorney was not present to contest the prosecution's claimed nondiscriminatory reasons for striking them.
 
      Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), holds that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment prohibits prosecutors from exercising peremptory challenges on the basis of race. Under this precedent, the defense attorney did object to the peremptory strikes of all of the black and hispanic jurors, however, defense counsel was not allowed to participate in the discussions between the judge and the prosecutor that resolved the objections.
 
     The court said "[t]here is no basis for finding that Ayala suffered actual prejudice, and the decision of the California Supreme Court," which affirmed his conviction, was "an entirely reasonable application of controlling precedent."
 

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