State v. Willis

WEBB, Justice.

The defendant Willis’ first assignment of error deals with a pre-trial motion. Willis made a motion to prohibit the State from exercising peremptory challenges to jurors “based on group bias.” The defendant contended he was an Indian which made him a member of a cognizable racial group and entitled him to object to peremptory challenges to jurors on racial grounds under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69 (1986).

A hearing was held on Willis’ motion. He testified that his father was white and his mother was an Indian. His birth certificate showed he was white. His…