Williams v. State

By the Court, PICKERING, J.:

*305The United States Constitution prohibits parties from exercising peremptory challenges to exclude jurors on the basis of race. When a defendant claims that the State has removed a potential juror because of the juror's race, the law requires the district judge to conduct a three-step inquiry. If, after conducting the inquiry, the district judge finds no unlawful discrimination occurred, we give great deference to the district court's finding and will only reverse if the district court clearly erred. But where, as here, the court fails to properly engage that…