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State v. Guillory3/11/1998
9 S.Ct. at 3005. Accordingly, we focus on the remaining element of the Castaneda test, requiring that defendant demonstrate the degree of under representation by comparing the proportion of the group in the total population to the proportion called to serve as grand jury foremen over a significant period of time.
Defense exhibit D-5 reveals that, according to the 1980 United States Census, blacks made up 31.3 percent of the total population of East Baton Rouge Parish; and, as per the stipulation of defendant and the state that two of thirty individuals selected as grand jury forepersons over the period of 1978 to 1988 were black, only 6.6 percent of those individuals were black.
However, since the general venire in East Baton Rouge Parish is composed of "qualified" persons drawn from a random list of registered voters and licensed drivers in that parish, the total percentage of a particular minority in the general population does not have a direct bearing on the make-up of the general venire, from which the grand jury venire is randomly drawn, and the grand jury foreman is selected. Rather, it is the percentage of the particular minority in the general population who are either licensed drivers or registered voters, and who meet the five qualifications necessary to become a juror, which is the appropriate percentage to compare with the actual percentage of minority grand jury foremen.
Therefore, in order to make a prima facie showing of discrimination in the selection of a grand jury foreman, the defendant must show a disproportion over a significant period of time between the percentage of an identifiable minority in the general venire or grand jury venire, and the percentage of minority forepersons during that time; and that the selection process is susceptible of abuse. That is, the defendant must show that the percentage of minority persons in the general population who are qualified to serve as grand jurors is disproportionate to the actual number of minority grand jury forepersons over a significant period of time to establish a prima facie case. Alexander v. Louisiana, 405 U.S. 625, 630, 92 S.Ct. 1221, 1225, 31 L.Ed.2d 536 (1972); Newman v. Henderson, 539 F.2d 502, 505 (5th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 914, 97 S.Ct. 2986, 53 L.Ed.2d 1100 (1977); Preston v. Mandeville, 428 F.2d 1392 (5th Cir. 1970); Labat v. Bennett, 365 F.2d 698 (5th Cir. 1966), cert. denied 386 U.S. 991, 87 S.Ct. 1303, 18 L.Ed.2d 334 (1967); see also, Foster v. Sparks, 506 F.2d 805, 832-33 (5th Cir. 1975); United States v. Jenison, 485 F. Supp. 655, 663 (S.D. Fla. 1979). To hold otherwise would be to ignore the fact that a substantial percentage of the general population does not meet the five qualifications which must be met in order to serve on a jury, or in this case as grand jury foreman.
In this case the defendant failed to show the percentage of minority persons in the general or grand jury venires, or the percentage of qualified minority persons in the general population, therefore the trial Judge was correct in finding that the defendant had not made the required prima facie showing. This assignment lacks merit.
Id. at 575-576 (emphasis added; footnotes omitted).
The Young case is nearly identical to the present case, and we find that the Defendant in the present case has failed to present sufficient evidence to support his claim of racial and gender discrimination. The focus is not the percentage of eligible blacks and females from the entire population of the parish, but instead the percentage of eligible blacks and females from the general venire and what percentage of this group was chosen to be grand jury forepersons.
No additional ev
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