Commonwealth v. Harris

We granted further appellate review to determine whether the prosecutor improperly used a peremptory challenge to exclude the sole black person from the venire from which the trial jury was picked for the defendant’s trial. A divided panel of the Appeals Court concluded that the judge did not abuse his discretion in allowing the challenge. See 28 Mass. App. Ct. 724, 728 (1990). We disagree, and conclude that the trial judge should have disallowed the challenge. Accordingly, we reverse the defendant’s conviction and order a new trial.

The defendant, a black man, was convicted of murder in the…