By: Derek Hawkins//January 12, 2016//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: United States of America v. J.B. Brown
Case No.: 14-3652
Officials: BAUER, FLAUM, and MANION, Circuit Judges.
Practice Area: Juror Removal
Removal of two jurors based on rational and sincere justification – court did not err.
“Even assuming arguendo that the government’s failure to ask Juror 74 follow-up questions did constitute evidence of pretext, Brown presented this exact same argument to the district court. Yet, the court credited the government’s race-neutral explanation over Brown’s argument. In particular, the court read Juror 74’s responses and found “that [the response] does not require any clarification.” And the court concluded that the government’s justification was sincere. Brown has not offered any reason for us to second guess the district court’s credibility finding on appeal. See Yarrington, 640 F.3d at 780. Thus, the district court did not clearly err.”
Affirmed