Bennett v. State

ON RETURN TO REMAND

The appellant, Otto Bennett, was convicted of assault in the first degree. After the Alabama Supreme Court released its opinion in Ex parte Thomas, [Ms. 1921804, May 20, 1994],1 we remanded this cause to the Circuit Court for Covington County so that the court could hold a Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79,106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986) hearing. The court has complied with our directions and has held a Batson hearing and filed with this court its findings.

The court found that the venire consisted of 44 persons: 35 were white and 9 were black. Of the nine black…