United States v. Perez

COFFIN, Senior Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), from the trial court’s allowance of a prosecutor’s peremptory challenge to a Spanish surnamed juror. Finding that it was not clearly erroneous for the trial court to reject appellant’s claim that the strike was racially motivated, we affirm the judgment of conviction.

During jury selection in a drug conspiracy prosecution against appellant and several co-defendants, all bearing Spanish surnames, one of the first twelve names drawn was that of Ruth Santiago. At sidebar the…