Lovelace v. State

Judge Arnold Shulman.

The appellant was tried by a jury and convicted of selling cocaine in violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. She appeals from the judgment of conviction.

1. The appellant, a black woman, complains that the state was improperly allowed to use its peremptory challenges in a racially discriminatory manner, in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (106 SC 1712, 90 LE2d 69) (1986). The record shows that the panel from which the jury was selected was 45 percent black, and the jury itself was 75 percent black. Based on these statistics, the trial court…