Willie Albert Fludd v. J.B. Dykes, Sheriff of Richmond County, Georgia and Frank Tiller

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

During the selection of the jury in this civil rights suit, brought by a black citizen against a police officer and his supervisor, both of whom are white, the defendants peremptorily challenged the two black persons on the venire; as a result, an all-white jury was chosen to try the case. Plaintiff’s counsel objected to these challenges on the ground that they were racially motivated and, citing Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), argued that defense counsel had to give a racially neutral explanation for their action or abandon the…