Whittlesey v. State

RAKER, Judge.

Appellant Michael Whittlesey was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court for Caroline County, the Honorable J. Owen Wise presiding, of the first degree murder of James Rowan Griffin. The same jury then sentenced him to death. On this appeal, Whittlesey raises eleven issues for our review. Four of his assignments of error relate to the validity of his conviction:(1) The State engaged in race discrimination in the use of its peremptory strikes during jury selection, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, as construed in Batson v. Kentucky,…