State v. Fielding

|, The issue in this case is whether the state used its peremptory challenges to exclude African Americans from jury solely on the basis of their race in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as interpreted in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Following a jury trial, the defendant, Donte Fielding, was convicted of second degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. The defendant now appeals. For the reasons…