Greer v. State

310 S.W.3d 11, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 4076, 2009 WL 1591694
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 9, 2009·No. 05-08-00146-CR·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by Justice FITZGERALD.

Marquael Odoric Greer was convicted of possession of cocaine and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He argues, among other *13 things, that the trial court erred by overruling five Batson challenges he made during jury selection. The State raises one cross-point that the judgment incorrectly states that Greer was convicted of possession with intent to deliver. We agree with Greer that the trial court committed Bat-son error and consequently reverse Greer’s conviction.

I. Batson

In issues five through nine, Greer argues that the trial court erred by overruling five Batson challenges he made to the State’s use of peremptory strikes against African-American jurors. See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 89, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Greer is African-American.

A. Facts

After strikes for cause and by agreement, 30 people were left in the venire. Eight veniremembers were African-Americans. After peremptory strikes, Greer raised a Batson objection, arguing that the State had used all six of its peremptory strikes against African-Americans. The trial judge asked for a response from the State, and the State gave justifications for each of its strikes. The court heard further arguments from both sides and sustained Greer’s Batson objection to the strike of one veniremember, Juror No. 27. 1 The State made a Batson objection to Greer’s strikes, and both sides presented argument. The court overruled the State’s Batson objections, then reconsidered its initial ruling and decided to overrule all of Greer’s Batson objections, including his objection to the strike of Juror No. 27.

B. Law

Batson entails a three-step analysis. The opponent of the peremptory strike bears the initial burden of making out a prima facie case of racial discrimination. Watkins v. State, 245 S.W.3d 444, 447 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 129 S.Ct. 92, 172 L.Ed.2d 78 (2008). If he carries this burden, the burden of production shifts to the proponent of the strike to come forward with a race-neutral reason for the strike. Id. If a race-neutral explanation is proffered, the trial court must then decide, as a question of fact, whether the opponent of the strike has proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the strike was a pretext for purposeful racial discrimination. Id. We skip the first step of the analysis if the trial court proceeded immediately to the second step by inquiring as to the striking party’s race-neutral reasons. Id.

We may overturn the trial judge’s ruling on a Batson challenge only if that ruling was clearly erroneous. Id. at 447-48. This standard is “highly deferential” to the trial judge. Gibson v. State, 144 S.W.3d 530, 534 (Tex.Crim.App.2004). A ruling is clearly erroneous if, after a review of the entire record, we are left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Whitsey v. State, 796 S.W.2d 707, 721, 726 (Tex.Crim.App.1989); Hutchinson v. State, 42 S.W.3d 336, 339 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2001), aff'd, 86 S.W.3d 636 (Tex.Crim.App.2002). If the trial judge’s decision is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety, or if the judge chose between two permissible views of the evidence, we may not reverse even if we are convinced that we would have decided the matter differently *14 had we been sitting as the trier of fact. Whitsey, 796 S.W.2d at 722. If the trial judge erroneously overruled even a single Batson objection, we must reverse and remand for a new trial. Thomas v. State, 209 S.W.3d 268, 275 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2006, no pet.); see also Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472, 128 S.Ct. 1208, 1208, 170 L.Ed.2d 175 (2008) (reversing conviction based on wrongful exclusion of one juror).

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Greer v. State, 310 S.W.3d 11, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 4076, 2009 WL 1591694 (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

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