Hodge v. State

Ruffin, Judge.

A jury found Willie C. Hodge guilty of five counts of armed robbery, three counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime, and one count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Hodge appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his challenge to the State’s peremptory jury strikes under Batson v. Kentucky. He also asserts that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

1. At trial, Hodge claimed that the State improperly struck two African-American members of the jury panel—jurors 14 and 22 — on the…