Smith v. State

The issue in this case is whether a trial court can deny a party the right to exercise a peremptory strike against a juror where the record does not establish that the juror was a member of a protected *1109class. The decision of the Third District Court of Appeal in Smith v. State, 1 So.3d 352 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009), is in express and direct conflict with our precedent in State v. Alen, 616 So.2d 452 (Fla.1993), which held that a juror’s surname, without more, is insufficient to trigger an inquiry as to whether the strike was exercised in a discriminatory manner.1 The Third District’s opinion, which…