State of Louisiana v. Johnny Lee Harris

11 Johnny Lee Harris was charged with the attempted armed robbery of Wayne Duplechain committed on May 25, 2009. He pleaded not guilty and proceeded to trial. During voir dire (and immediately following defense counsel’s Batson 1 challenge), the state opposed counsel’s exercise of a peremptory challenge to strike juror Joanne Guidroz (a white female) 2 with the comment: “Since you made one, I’ll make one.” After noting that the defense used three of five challenges to strike white female jurors, the court tasked counsel to provide reasons for striking Guidroz and counsel responded, “She has a…