Willie Smith, Jr. v. State of Florida

The Appellant, Willie Smith, Jr., was charged with two counts of failure of a sex offender to report or register a change in permanent or temporary address. The jury found the Appellant guilty as charged. The Appellant appeals his convictions and argues that the State improperly exercised a peremptory strike to exclude an African-American venireperson. Because it appears from the record that the trial court failed to determine the genuineness of the State’s challenge, we are required to reverse.

The State argues that the peremptory strike issue was not preserved, but we do not agree.…