Nelson v. State

The appellant, Calvin Nelson, was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. On this appeal from that conviction he raises four issues.

I

The appellant claims that the trial court violated the mandates of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712,90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), and Ex parte Branch, 526 So.2d 609 (Ala. 1987), by not requiring the prosecutor to explain his reasons for striking two black venirepersons.

The trial judge observed that there had been four black persons on the venire, that the State had struck two black persons, and that the other two black persons were…