People v. Gilliard

A jury found defendant, Steven Gilliard, guilty of robbery. Defendant, who is black, contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial because the prosecutor systematically used peremptory challenges during the voir dire examination of the prospective jurors to exclude blacks from the jury solely because they were blacks. It is defendant’s position that he was denied the. type of fair trial guaranteed under the sixth amendment of the United States Constitution because the State affirmatively frustrated his right to a jury drawn from a fair cross section of the…