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McGahee: Batson violation warrants habeas relief

By Tim Cone

In McGahee v. Alabama Dep?t of Corrections, No. 07-15602 (March 4, 2009), the Court granted a writ of habeas corpus to an Alabama death row inmate, finding that Alabama violated Batson v. Kentucky by using its peremptory strikes in a discriminatory manner at his trial for 1986 murders.The Court found that the Alabama trial court, and the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, failed to properly apply Batson. The record indicated that one black juror had been struck because the State "did not want to leave him individually," a remark the Court interpreted as being because of the juror?s race. In addition, all black members of the venire were struck by the State, either for cause, or by the use of peremptory challenges. "There can be no clearer ?pattern? than the total removal of all African-American jurors from the venire by the State...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on March 11, 2009 (boomark / email).