State v. Clay

Defendant appeals his conviction for possession of a controlled substance. Defendant is African-American. He argues that the trial court’s disallowance of his objection to the state’s peremptory challenges of all three of the African-American jurors in the 27-person jury pool violated his right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal constitution. He relies on Batson v. Kentucky, 476 US 79, 106 S Ct 1712, 90 L Ed 2d 69 (1986), and related cases as support for that argument. We agree with defendant and vacate and remand.

During voir dire, the prosecuting attorney…