Acoff v. State

Tremayne Acoff was convicted of escape and resisting arrest without violence. He challenges one of the state’s peremptory strikes on the ground of racial bias, and also argues the court’s written judgment did not reflect the jury’s verdict. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Acoff first argues that the trial court erred by permitting the prosecution to exercise a peremptory challenge to excuse an African-American juror over defense objection. Melbourne v. State, 679 So.2d 759 (Fla.1996) clarifies the process for challenging peremptory strikes of jurors on the grounds of racial bias, as…