Johnson v. State

875 So. 2d 208, 2004 WL 1404899
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 24, 2004
Docket96-CT-01136-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 875 So. 2d 208 (Johnson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. State, 875 So. 2d 208, 2004 WL 1404899 (Mich. 2004).

Opinion

875 So.2d 208 (2004)

Reginald Torlentus JOHNSON
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 96-CT-01136-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 24, 2004.

*209 Robert M. Ryan, Thomas M. Fortner, Andre De Gruy, Jackson, attorneys for appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by W. Glenn Watts, attorney for appellee.

COBB, Presiding Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. This is an appeal after remand to the Hinds County Circuit Court, First Judicial District, for the limited purpose of conducting a proper Batson hearing. Reginald Torlentus Johnson was convicted of deliberate design murder in September, 1996, and was sentenced to serve life in prison in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He appealed on the basis that, inter alia, the State used its peremptory strikes in a systematic way to eliminate blacks from the jury in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), and Hatten v. State, 628 So.2d 294 (Miss.1993). The State used only six of its twelve peremptory strikes, but all six were used to eliminate black venire persons. The resulting petit jury consisted of 7 blacks and 5 whites.

¶ 2. In December, 1998, the Mississippi Court of Appeals held that the State's racially neutral reasons for their strikes were being offered in good faith, and affirmed the trial court. Johnson v. State, 754 So.2d 1178, 1179(¶ 5) (Miss. 2000). After granting Johnson's petition for certiorari, this Court applied the rule of Hatten v. State, reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remanded the case for a proper Batson hearing, on the sole issue that the trial court neglected to undertake the third step of the Batson analysis, by failing to make on-the-record factual findings for each peremptory strike made by the State:

"We say once again that the rule promulgated in Hatten will be enforced. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The case is remanded to the Hinds County Circuit Court for a hearing and findings pursuant to Hatten and Batson."

Johnson 754 So.2d at 1180, (¶ 8). The Hatten rule requires the trial court to make on-the-record factual findings that each race neutral reason offered by the State for striking a juror is non-pretextual. Johnson, 754 So.2d at 1180; Hatten, 628 So.2d at 298.

FACTS

¶ 3. The new Batson hearing was conducted on May 10, 2002. It consisted of direct and cross-examination of Glenda Haynes, the assistant district attorney, who along with then-District Attorney Ed Peters, had tried the case in 1996. Presiding over the hearing was Circuit Judge Winston Kidd, who was not the initial trial judge. Haynes testified that Peters had conducted the voir dire for the State and it had been her responsibility to watch, listen, and take notes about what was said and what the prospective jurors were doing during voir dire. Her testimony was based on her notes from the trial, her personal recollection, District Attorney Peters's notes, and the transcript of the original *210 proceedings. Judge Kidd actively participated in the hearing, asking questions from time to time to clarify details of testimony and interacting with the attorneys for Johnson and the State. At the conclusion of the evidence and argument, Judge Kidd made oral findings on the record in which he reiterated each reason given by the state for each strike, after which he found that the reasons were race neutral. Thereafter, he concluded, in summary fashion, that the findings had been made, that the reasons given by the State were sufficiently race neutral under the Batson standard, and that the State did not engage in unconstitutional discrimination in the use of its peremptory challenges. We affirm that ruling.

DISCUSSION

¶ 4. On review, a trial court's determinations under Batson are afforded great deference because they are largely based on credibility. McGilberry v. State, 741 So.2d 894, 923 (Miss.1999) (citing Coleman v. State, 697 So.2d 777, 785 (Miss. 1997)). This Court will not reverse factual findings relating to a Batson challenge unless they are clearly erroneous. Id. See also Woodward v. State, 726 So.2d 524, 530 (Miss.1998); Lockett v. State, 517 So.2d 1346, 1349-50 (Miss.1987). "This perspective is wholly consistent with our unflagging support of the trial court as the proper forum for resolution of factual controversies." Id. at 1350.

¶ 5. Johnson asserts that the trial court decision on remand is clearly erroneous. Specifically, Johnson argues that the third step in the Batson test requires "factual truthfulness," that is, the trial judge may not simply take at face value the explanation asserted by the State, but each on-the-record findings of non-pretext must contain some evidence from the record that supports the reason for the strike. See Hatten, 628 So.2d at 302. See also Snow v. State, 800 So.2d 472, 479-81 (Miss. 2001) ("Hatten does not require literal truth in the reason proffered. It only requires that there be some basis in fact sufficient to allow the court to make a reasonable judgment that it is not contrived."). Johnson contends that the trial judge merely made a determination that the reasons were race neutral, as required in step two of Batson, but did not make a determination that they were factually truthful and non-pretextual, as required by step three of Batson and by Hatten. The following colloquy took place during the hearing:

THE COURT: So it's the Defendant's position that the trial court judge did not make a determination that those reasons given for striking juror one on panel one—is it the Defendant's position that the trial court did not make a determination that those reasons were race neutral?
MR. DeGRUY [Counsel for Defendant]: He made a determination that they were race neutral. He did not make a determination that they were factually truthful and that's why we're back here because we had never gotten to step three and it is impossible to make that determination because they failed to make the record at the time— to raise the issue so that a true record could be made.
...
THE COURT: When the Court made a decision to accept those challenges as race neutral, don't you think the Court actually made a factual finding that they were race neutral? If the Court accepted the reasons given by the State, even thought the Court did not give individual reasons on the record, but if the Court allowed the State to strike these individuals, *211 wouldn't you think that the Court made factual findings?
Mr. DeGRUY: Absolutely not. I think that's why the case is back here because the Court did not make—
The COURT: Because they're not on the record.

¶ 6. Haynes testified regarding the State's six strikes, and Johnson's attorney provided rebuttal, as follows:

S-1 Panel 1, juror 1, black male, age 40. Haynes testified that this juror did not pay attention during voir dire, was not even facing the district attorney as he spoke, and was totally unresponsive. Additionally, Haynes testified that she recalled that the juror was turned around in his seat, unresponsive, and gave the impression that he didn't want to be there, even when defense conducted voir dire.

S-1 rebuttal.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
875 So. 2d 208, 2004 WL 1404899, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-state-miss-2004.