State v. Blackhoop

OPINION

JACOBSON, Presiding Judge.

We must decide whether a procedure utilized by the trial judge to select alternate jurors, which resulted in the only two members of the jury who were of the same race as the defendant being named alternates, was improper.

The defendant, Brian Blackhoop, a native American, was charged by information with sexual assault, a class 2 felony, and criminal trespass, a class 6 felony. The defendant’s jury trial resulted in him being found guilty as charged. He was sentenced to the presumptive terms of seven years imprisonment on the sexual assault conviction and one…