Covin v. State

Ruffin, Judge.

The appellant, Tommy Lee Covin, was convicted of burglary of the Leesburg City Hall. His sole contention on appeal concerns the trial court’s denial of his challenge to the State’s exercise of its peremptory strikes pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (106 SC 1712, 90 LE2d 69) (1986).

The State exercised four of six peremptory strikes to exclude black jurors. The prosecutor explained that the reasons for striking three of the jurors in question included lack of intelligence, relationship to the appellant, or long-time acquaintance with the appellant. The appellant does…