State v. Henderson

Defendant appeals his conviction for rape, kidnapping, and resisting arrest, contending that the state violated his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection of the laws by exercising a peremptory challenge, over his timely objection, to the only black person on the jury. The question is whether the record supports an inference of purposeful discrimination requiring the state to rebut that inference with a neutral explanation. We conclude that it does, and remand for a determination of whether the prosecution had a neutral, legitimate reason for its challenge related to this case.

Defendan…