State v. Ashley

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge.

Franklin L. Ashley appeals his convictions for burglary, rape, assault, and armed criminal action on the ground that the trial court violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution by failing to sustain his objections to the State’s use of peremptory challenges to strike two African-American veni-repersons. He also appeals the motion court’s denial, after an evidentiary hearing, of his pro se Rule 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief on the ground that his trial counsel were ineffective for failing to call an…