State v. Hernandez

The solitary issue presented for our review concerns whether the exercise of a peremptory challenge by the state which had the effect of excluding the only minority member of the jury venire from service on the trial jury was a violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Section 10, Article I of the Ohio Constitution. In support of his contention that the exclusion of Mrs. Lacy was constitutionally infirm, appellant relies upon the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Batson v. Kentucky (1986), 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69.…