Cherry v. Abbott

Gregory, Justice.

Petitioner, a black male, filed a writ of habeas corpus contending the state had exercised its peremptory strikes to exclude all black jurors from the panel selected to try his case, and therefore his convictions were in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (106 SC 1712, 90 LE2d 69) (1986). Batson had not been decided at the time of petitioner’s trial. 1 Petitioner’s trial counsel made no objections to the state’s use of its peremptory strikes against all three black members of the panel. In his petition for habeas corpus, petitioner also alleged that trial counsel…