Yancey v. State1/12/2001
The appellant, Vernon Lamar Yancey, was convicted of murdering Mattie Sports during the course of a robbery, an offense defined as capital by § 13A-5-40(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975. The jury, by a vote of 10 to 2, recommended that Yancey be sentenced to death. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Yancey to death by electrocution.
Because we are reversing this case on a Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) claim we will not recite the facts surrounding the offense.
Yancey argues that the prosecutor violated Batson, by using 12 of his 15 strikes to remove black prospective jurors from the venire. The United States Supreme Court in Batson held that black prospective jurors could not be excluded from a black defendant's jury solely on the basis of their race. This holding was extended to white defendants in Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400 (1991); to defense counsel in criminal cases in Georgia v. McCollum, 505 U.S. 42 (1992); to white prospective jurors in White Consolidated Industries, Inc. v. American Liberty Insurance Co., 617 So. 2d 657 (Ala. 1993); and to strikes based solely on gender in J.E.B. v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 127 (1994).
Specifically, Yancey argues that the reasons given for striking these jurors were merely a pretext or a sham and white prospective jurors sharing the characteristics for which black jurors were removed were not struck. He asserts that the record reflects that the prosecutor exercised disparate treatment when striking black prospective jurors and white prospective jurors. After examining the record, we must agree. We are confident that this case will not withstand the many years of appellate review that follow a case in which the death penalty has been imposed. The Alabama Supreme Court in Ex parte Branch, 526 So. 2d 609 (Ala. 1987), iterated the standard a reviewing court uses when evaluating whether a Batson violation has occurred. The court stated:
"The burden of persuasion is initially on the party alleging discriminatory use of peremptory challenges to establish a prima facie case of discrimination. In determining whether there is a prima facie case, the court is to consider `all relevant circumstances' which could lead to an inference of discrimination. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 93, 106 S.Ct. at 1721, citing Washington v. David, 426 U.S. 229, 239-42, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 1047-48, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976). The following are illustrative of the types of evidence that can be used to raise the inference of discrimination:
"1. Evidence that the `jurors in question share only this one characteristic -- their membership in the group -- and that in all other respects they [were] as heterogeneous as the community as a whole.' [People v.] Wheeler, 22 Cal.3d , 280, 583 P.2d , 764, 148 Cal.Rptr. , 905. For instance `it may be significant that the persons challenged, although all black, include both men and women and are a variety of ages, occupations, and social or economic conditions,' Wheeler, 22 Cal.3d at 280, 583 P.2d at 764, 148 Cal.Rptr. at 905, n. 27, indicating that race was the deciding factor.
"2. A pattern of strikes against black jurors on the particular venire; e.g., 4 of 6 peremptory challenges were used to strike black jurors. Batson, 476 U.S. at 97, 106 S.Ct. at 1723.
"3. The past conduct of the state's attorney in using peremptory challenges to strike all blacks from the jury venire. Swain [v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965)], supra.
"4. The type and manner of the state's attorney's questions and statements during voir dire, including nothing more than desultory voir dire. Batson, 476 U.S. at 97, 106 S.Ct. at 1723; Wheeler, 22 Cal.3d
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