Termination of Parental Rights

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. R.D.W., Sr.

Case No.: 2018AP351

Officials: BRENNAN, J.

Focus: Termination of Parental Rights

R.D.W., Sr. appeals the October 11, 2017 order terminating his parental rights to his child, R.D.W., Jr., contending on appeal that the trial court erred in denying his Batson challenge at the grounds jury trial. He argues that in ruling on his Batson motion, the trial court erred in the analysis by skipping entirely the third prong of the Batson purposeful discrimination test and failing to consider the persuasiveness and plausibility of the State’s proffered race-neutral explanation for striking an African-American, Juror 2. See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 97-98 (1986).

The State and Guardian ad Litem (GAL) 3 respond that R.D.W., Sr. failed to meet his burden under the third prong of Batson of showing that they intended purposeful racial discrimination when they struck Juror 2. See State v. Lamon, 2003 WI 78, ¶32, 262 Wis. 2d 747, 664 N.W.2d 607 (citing Batson, 476 U.S. at 98). For the following reasons we agree with the State and GAL and affirm.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.