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WOODS v. STATE4/18/1997
The appellant, Gregory Eugene Woods, was convicted of child abuse, a violation of § 26-15-3, Ala. Code 1975. He was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary and was also ordered to pay a $500 fine and a victim's compensation assessment of $100.
Woods argues that the trial court erred in ruling that he had not established a prima facie case of gender discrimination in the state's exercise of its peremptory strikes. See, Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), and J.E.B. v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 127, 114 S.Ct. 1419, 128 L.Ed.2d 89 (1994). We agree.
The trial record reflects that the prosecution used all seven of its peremptory strikes to remove male veniremembers. After Woods objected on this ground, the trial court ruled initially that he had established a prima facie case of gender-based discrimination. (R. 55.) However, after the prosecution noted that Woods had exercised six of his seven strikes against females, the trial court reversed its initial ruling on the ground that the state's exercise of its peremptory strikes did not substantially alter the composition of the jury with regard to gender.
In Ex parte Branch, 526 So.2d 609 (Ala. 1987), the Alabama Supreme Court discussed a number of relevant factors a defendant could present in attempting to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination. These factors, restated by the Alabama Supreme Court with regard to gender-based Batson challenges in Ex parte Trawick, 698 So.2d 162, 168 (Ala. 1997), are:
"(1) evidence that the jurors in question shared only the characteristic of gender and were in all other respects as heterogenous as the community as a whole; (2) a pattern of strikes against jurors of one gender on the particular venire; (3) the past conduct of the state's attorney in using peremptory challenges to strike members of one gender; (4) the type and manner of the state's questions and statements during voir dire; (a) the type and manner of questions directed to the challenged juror, including a lack of questions; (6) disparate treatment of members of the jury venire who had the same characteristics or who answered a question in the same manner or in a similar manner; and (7) separate
examination of members of the venire. Additionally, the court may consider whether the State used all or most of its strikes against members of one gender."
In Ex parte Thomas, 659 So.2d 3 (Ala. 1994), the Alabama Supreme Court held that by objecting to the prosecution's use of 9 of its 10 strikes against black veniremembers, the defendant made a prima facie showing of a Batson violation. This Court has applied Thomas in a situation where the prosecution had exercised all of its strikes against veniremembers of the same gender in Alexander v. State, 673 So.2d 791 (Ala. Cr. App. 1995).
Based on the above holdings, we conclude that Woods made a prima facie showing of gender discrimination in the prosecution's exercise of its peremptory strikes. Because Woods made a prima facie showing, the prosecution must give its reasons for its strikes. We remand this cause to the circuit court for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the prosecution exercised any of its strikes in a discriminatory manner with regard to gender. The circuit court must determine if the prosecution's reasons are gender-neutral. The circuit court is to file a return to this court within 90 days of the date of this opinion, and in that return is to include a transcript of any testimony taken, as well as the court's written findings and conclusions.
REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.
All the Judges concur.
The opinion of March 6, 1998,
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