Commonwealth v. Curtiss

Convicted of rape and indecent assault and battery, the defendant appealed to the Appeals Court. A divided panel of the Appeals Court determined that the judge erroneously disallowed the defendant’s peremptory challenge to a black man on the venire where the complainant was black and the defendant white. The Appeals Court ordered a new trial. Commonwealth v. Curtiss, 40 Mass. App. Ct. 350 (1996). We allowed the Commonwealth’s application for further appellate review. We conclude that the trial judge’s deci*79sion to disallow the peremptory challenge should be affirmed. We also conclude that…