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Bland v. State5/16/2000
1991) (plurality opinion). Therefore, we review the record in the light most favorable to the trial court's ruling. Neill v. State, 896 P.2d 537, 546 (Okl.Cr.1994), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1080, 116 S.Ct. 791, 133 L.Ed.2d 740 (1996); Black v. State, 871 P.2d 35, 43 (Okl.Cr.1994).
In the present case, we need not determine whether Appellant made a prima facie showing of intentional discrimination as the issue is moot. "Once a prosecutor has offered a race neutral explanation for the peremptory challenges and the trial court has ruled on the ultimate question of intentional discrimination, the preliminary issue of whether the defendant has made a prima facie showing becomes moot." Id. quoting Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 359, 111 S.Ct. at 1866, 114 L.Ed.2d at 405.
A review of the record in this case shows the prosecutor offered race-neutral explanations for striking the prospective jurors from the panel.
A neutral explanation in the context of our analysis here means an explanation based on something other than the race of the juror. At this step of the inquiry, the issue is the facial validity of the prosecutor's explanation. Unless a discriminatory intent is inherent in the prosecutor's explanation, the reason offered will be deemed race neutral. Id. at 964.
The prosecutor used his third peremptory challenge to excuse Ms. Flores. He explained to the court that he wanted to excuse Ms. Flores because she had three close relatives who were incarcerated and that she had initially expressed some reluctance when asked about the death penalty. The State's ninth peremptory challenge was used to excuse Mr. Aldape-say. The prosecutor explained that he was concerned about Mr. Aldape-say's inability to understand the English language and that he had expressed sympathy for the defendant.
None of these explanations, on their face, reveal an intent to discriminate against the potential juror on account of race. The prosecutor's reasons for excusing the potential jurors were clear and reasonably specific explanations of the prosecutor's legitimate concerns that Ms. Flores and Mr. Aldape-say could not be fair and impartial jurors.
Once the prosecutor offers a race-neutral basis for the exercise of the peremptory challenge, it is the duty of the trial court to determine if the defendant has established purposeful discrimination.
" n the typical peremptory challenge inquiry, the decisive question will be whether counsel's race neutral explanation for a peremptory challenge should be believed. There will seldom be much evidence bearing on that issue, and the best evidence often will be the demeanor of the attorney who exercises the challenge.... valuation of the prosecutor's state of mind based on demeanor and credibility lies 'peculiarly within a trial judge's province.'" Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 365, 111 S.Ct. at 1859, 114 L.Ed.2d at 409. Id. at 965.
The record reflects that at least three other persons who appeared to be of Hispanic/Spanish origin were seated on the jury, without challenges from the State. There is no indication the prosecutor had any history before the court of seeking to purposefully discriminate against jurors on the basis of race. Further, neither race nor ethnic origin was an issue in this case. Therefore, we find no error in the trial court's determination that the prosecutor did not discriminate on the basis of race.
Appellant further argues the prosecutor's explanations were pretextual because there were other prospective jurors with similar traits which were not excused from the jury panel. We have reviewed the voir dire of the other venirepersons which Appellant brings to our attent
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