State v. Henderson

The issue in this criminal case is whether the prosecutor’s peremptory challenge of a prospective juror who is a member of a racial minority violated defendant’s rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. We hold that defendant did not demonstrate a violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection of the laws.

Defendant, an African-American man, was convicted of raping and kidnapping a Caucasian woman. During selection of the jury, the prosecutor exercised a peremptory challenge to excuse DuBoise, the only…