Douglas v. State

STATON, Judge.

Valentino Douglas appeals his conviction of robbery, a class B felony.1 He presents for this court’s review a single issue: whether the State violated Douglas’ right to equal protection of the law by exercising a peremptory challenge to a member of Douglas’ race.

We affirm.

Douglas, an African-American, was charged with robbery while armed with a deadly weapon. During voir dire, the State exercised a peremptory challenge to strike an African-American woman from the venire. Douglas objected:

“She is the only member of the twelve people who are sitting in the box who is black. As I…