Winfield v. Commonwealth

UPON REHEARING EN BANC

Opinion

In Winfield v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 446, 404 S.E.2d 398 (1991), a panel of the Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court that the Commonwealth’s Attorney satisfied the requirements of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), in explaining his exercise of peremptory strikes against four black veniremen. After the release of our opinion, the Supreme Court decided Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352 (1991), explaining the standard of appellate review of a trial court ruling on a Batson challenge. The court said:

[T]he trial court’s decision on the ultimate…