T. Felkner v. Steven Frank Jackson (562 U.S. 594)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 21, 2011 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 562 U.S. 594 · 131 S. Ct. 1305
- Decided
- March 21, 2011
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. A California jury convicted respondent Steven Frank Jackson of numerous sexual offenses stemming from his attack on a 72-year-old woman who lived in his apartment complex. Jackson raised a Batson claim, asserting that the prosecutor exercised peremptory challenges to exclude black prospective jurors on the basis of their race. See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (1986). Two of three black jurors had been struck; the third served on the jury. App. to Pet. for Cert. 49-50. Jackson’s counsel did not object when the prosecutor struck the first of the black jurors, Juror S. Counsel later explained that he did not make a “motion at that time” because he thought the excusa! of Juror S “was a close call.” After the prosecutor sought to dismiss the second juror, Juror J, Jackson’s counsel made the Batson motion challenging both strikes. Record in No. 2:07-cv-00555-RJB (ED Cal.), Doe. 29, Lodged Doc. No. 7, pp. 76-77 (hereinafter Document 7). The prosecutor offered a race-neutral explanation for striking each juror: Juror S had stated that from the ages of 16 to 30 years old, he was frequently stopped by California police officers because — in his view — of his race and age. As the prosecutor put it, “Whether or not he still harbors any animosity is not something I wanted to roll the dice with.” Id., at 78; Record in No. 2:07-cv-00555-RJB (ED Cal), Doc. 29, Lodged Doc. No.…
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