People v. Kitchen

Defendant is entitled to a new trial under Batson v. Kentucky (1986), 476 U.S. 79, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69, 106 S. Ct. 1712, as the result of the State’s decision to exclude Marie Shorter from the jury. The record shows that fewer than a third of the venirepersons were of the same race as defendant (African-American), yet half of the State’s peremptory challenges were exercised against persons of African-American descent. Marie Shorter was one of those persons. As the majority points out, Shorter was excluded from the venire even though she shared characteristics, unrelated to race, which were common…