State v. Walston

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Six, J.:

This is a peremptory challenge jury selection case, alleging the State’s strikes were not “race neutral.” Arthur Walston was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a 12-year-old girl. He alleges that the State’s use of peremptoiy challenges to strike African-American panelists from the venire was motivated by race, violating the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause and Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69, 106 S. Ct. 1712 (1986).

The Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion filed May 6, 1994, affirmed the…