Cook v. State

The issue presented is whether the trial court erred in allowing the exclusion of two African-American jurors without conducting an inquiry into the genuineness of the race-neutral reasons given by the state. We find that the trial court erred in not conducting an inquiry into the genuineness of the reasons offered by the state for its exclusion of the two jurors. We therefore reverse and remand.

In this case, two juries were selected consecutively from a single jury panel. The state was represented by the same prosecutor in both cases. During voir dire in the other defendant’s case, the…