State v. Batson

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

PADGETT, J.

This is an appeal by defendant-appellant William Batson, aka Amos Crase II (appellant), from a First Circuit jury conviction for murder in the second degree (Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) §§ 707-701.5(1) and 706-656(2)).

Appellant contends that he was deprived of equal protection of the law under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and under Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii when the prosecution, in the course of selection of the jury, exercised a peremptory challenge excusing from the jury the only…