Hinson v. State

The defendant, an African-American, used 11 out of 12 strikes to remove white jurors. This established a prima facie case for the use of race-based strikes. See, e.g., Russell v. State, 230 Ga. App. 546, 548 (2) (497 SE2d 36) (1998). Further, this Court has concurred with the trial court that two of the defense’s allegedly “race-neutral” explanations for the exercise of such strikes were, in reality, simply pretext, further strengthening the prima facie case.

However, after a strong prima facie case demonstrating the use of race-based strikes and after a demonstration that the defense used…