STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff-Respondent v. MAURICE D. JONES

Maurice D. Jones (“Defendant”} appeals his convictions, following a jury trial, for first-degree assault and armed criminal action perpetrated against a male victim. See sections 565.050 and 571.015. 1 Defendant claims he should receive a new trial because the trial court clearly erred in overruling his gender-based Batson 2 challenges to two peremptory strikes used by the State to eliminate female panel members. Deferring to the trial court’s superi- or position to detect bias, we find no clear error and affirm.

Standard of Review and Governing Law

A party may not exercise a peremptory strike…