People v. Rudd

After the trial court found that the prosecutor had established a prima facie case of racial discrimination by the defense *711counsel in his exercise of peremptory challenges, the court asked counsel to explain his challenges to several prospective jurors. With respect to prospective juror number five in the first round of jury selection, the defense counsel explained that he was a security guard. The court concluded that the defense counsel had failed to give a nonpretextual, racially neutral explanation for his challenge to prospective juror number five and seated that prospective juror.

The…