People v. Johnson

Opinion

CHIN, J.

Both the United States and the California Constitutions prohibit the exercise of peremptory challenges solely because of group bias. (Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79 [90 L.Ed.2d 69, 106 S.Ct. 1712] (Batson); People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 [148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748].) In this case, defendant objected at trial that the prosecutor had challenged three African-American prospective jurors on the basis of their race. The trial court found that defendant had not established a prima facie case of group bias and overruled the objection. Following his conviction of…