Criminal Procedure — equal protection

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Criminal Procedure — equal protection — peremptory challenges

Where the prosecutor used peremptory strikes against all five blacks remaining on the jury panel, the state courts unreasonably held that the defendant failed to make a prima facie case of an equal protection violation.

“A few numbers show why there is a Batson problem. The venire drawn for Hooper’s trial had 63 members. Of these, seven were black. Two of the seven were removed on challenges for cause. The prosecutor exercised peremptory challenges against the remaining five. The prosecutor used 11 peremptory challenges, removing 100% of the black members of the venire who had not already been removed for cause and 11% of the white or Asian members. Surprisingly, however, Judge Maloney concluded that the defense lacked even a prima facie demonstration of racial discrimination.”

Vacated and Remanded.

12-1980 Hooper v. Ryan

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Gottschall, J., Easterbrook, J.