Johnson v. State

I concur fully with the main opinion. I write to address Johnson’s belief that, in the context of a Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 *16(1986), the racial-neutrality of a proponent’s peremptory strike must be disclosed during voir dire. In several instances, Johnson rebutted the State’s alleged race-neutral explanation for a challenged strike by arguing that the voir dire did not support the State’s explanation, i.e., “[the State] should have elicited that in the voir dire”; “[the State] should have brought the sheriff on to testify ... [i]t is not in the record in…