People v. Lenix

Opinion

CORRIGAN, J.

Here we determine whether an appellate court must perform a comparative juror analysis for the first time on appeal to evaluate whether the advocate’s stated reasons for peremptorily challenging prospective jurors are truthful or pretextual. (See People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 [148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748] (Wheeler); Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79 [90 L.Ed.2d 69, 106 S.Ct. 1712] (Batson).) The United States Supreme Court conducted such a comparative analysis for the first time on appeal in Miller-El v. Dretke (2005) 545 U.S. 231 [162 L.Ed.2d 196, 125…