State v. Vreen

James Vreen was the driver of an automobile involved in a serious one-car accident. He was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault. At his trial, Mr. Vreen, an African-American, attempted to exercise a peremptory challenge to remove the only African-American in the jury pool. The court sustained the State’s Batson 1 objection. The jury convicted Mr. Vreen on all four counts and he appeals contending: (1) the court erred by denying him his right to a peremptory challenge, (2) the prosecutor engaged in misconduct by eliciting testimony as to the…