People v. Gaston

This is an appeal on remand of People v. Gaston (1992), 227 Ill. App. 3d 486, 592 N.E.2d 131, in which we found that defendant had established a prima facie case of discrimination in the selection of his jury. We ordered the trial court to conduct a hearing pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky (1986), 476 U.S. 79, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69, 106 S. Ct. 1712, to determine whether the State had race-neutral explanations for using four of five peremptory challenges to strike African-Americans from Gaston’s jury venire. Defendant had been convicted of the armed robbery of a paint store in Chicago. Although…