People v. Willis

Opinion

CHIN, J.

Under existing law, when either party in a criminal case succeeds in showing that the opposing party has improperly exercised peremptory challenges to exclude members of a cognizable group, the court must dismiss all the jurors thus far selected and quash the remaining venire. (People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258, 282 [148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748] (Wheeler); see Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79 [106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69] (Batson).) Wheeler reasoned that the remedy of dismissal was appropriate because “the complaining party is entitled to a random draw from an…