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Taylor v. State2/4/1999
urning down her house.
. In Evans v. State, Nos. 93-DP-01173-SCT, 94-CA-00176-SCT, 1997 WL 562044, at *67 (Miss. Sept 11, 1997) (quoting Bond v. State, 249 Miss. 352, 357, 162 So. 2d 510, 512 (1964)), this Court held that it was the jury's responsibility to Judge the credibility of the various witnesses.
In a criminal prosecution, the jury may accept the testimony of some witnesses and reject that of others, and may accept in part and reject in part the testimony of any witnesses, or may believe part of the evidence on behalf of the state and part of that for the accused, and the credibility of such witnesses is not for the reviewing court, but only for the jury.
Id. (citations omitted). Based on the strictures of our standard of review it can not be said that reasonable and fair-minded persons could not find the defendant guilty. Therefore, the foregoing assignment of error is without merit.
D.
. In his fourth assignment of error Taylor claims that the circuit court erred in the jury selection process by requiring him to give race-neutral reasons for peremptorily striking white jurors without first finding a pattern of exclusion and then not accepting the defendant's reasons given. The State argues that the defendant is procedurally barred from raising this issue. Not only did the defendant fail to object to the circuit court's ruling, the defendant readily agreed to the requirement that he offer race-neutral reasons for peremptorily striking white jurors.
. While it is true that Taylor did not object to the requirement that he state race- neutral reasons, the issue raised here goes beyond that process. It speaks also to the fact that the trial court ultimately and erroneously denied strikes based on race-neutral reasons.
. A Batson analysis is a three part inquiry. First, the objecting party is required to make a prima facie showing that peremptory strikes are being exercised on the basis of race. McFarland v. State, 707 So. 2d 166, 171 (Miss. 1997); Mack v. State, 650 So. 2d 1289, 1296 (Miss. 1994) (citing Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 96 (1986)). Second, after the defendant makes such a showing the burden then shifts to the party exercising the strikes to offer a race-neutral reason for the challenge. Id. Third, the court must determine if the opposing party has met the burden of proving that purposeful discrimination was the motive behind the challenges. McFarland, 707 So. 2d at 171.
. In the case at bar, after the State had peremptorily struck two black jurors the defendant asked that the State be required to come forward with race-neutral reasons for the strikes pursuant to Batson. The circuit court held that if the defendant invoked Batson, the Supreme Court would require that the defense offer race-neutral reasons for any peremptory strikes it exercised against white jurors. This ruling by the circuit court was in error.
. Taylor's invocation of Batson did not automatically require him to come forward with race-neutral reasons for exercising peremptory strikes. The State has a burden to raise an objection and show that a defendant has a pattern of using peremptory challenges to excuse persons of a particular racial group. Stewart v. State, 662 So. 2d 552, 560 (Miss. 1995). It is reversible error for a trial court to "fail to place the initial burden on the State to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination." Id. In the case at bar, the State did not object to the defense's exercise of peremptory strikes nor was there a finding of a pattern of racial discrimination against white jurors. At the time the defense attempted to strike the juror who was a school teacher, the
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