Hardin v. State

OPINION

DAVIS, Commissioner.

This is an appeal from a conviction of robbery by assault. The jury assessed the punishment at thirty-five years.

The appellant’s sole contention is that “The Court should have permitted only challenges for cause thereby preventing the State from achieving an all-white jury through systematic exclusion of Negroes by peremptory challenges.”

Appellant is a Negro, and the victim of the robbery is a white police officer. The petit jury, which tried the issue of guilt, was drawn from a panel of thirty-six persons, five of whom were Negroes. Four of the five Negroes on the…