People v. Stephens

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York

People v. Stephens

149 A.D.2d 949, 540 N.Y.S.2d 81, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5966

CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

DecidedApril 14, 1989

StatusPublished

This text of 149 A.D.2d 949 (People v. Stephens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

People v. Stephens, 149 A.D.2d 949, 540 N.Y.S.2d 81, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5966 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1989).

Pincite

Opinion

— Judgment unanimously reversed on the law and new trial granted. Memorandum: This trial predated the Supreme Court’s decision in Batson v Kentucky (476 US 79); nevertheless, the trial court, with remarkable foresight, directed the prosecutor to put on the record his reasons for exercising peremptory challenges to seven black veniremen. The court determined that the prosecutor had given no racially neutral reasons for the exclusion of five potential jurors. Noting that systematic exclusion from a jury of members of a particular racial group was contrary to any perception of justice, the court, under the status of the law at that time, declined to declare a mistrial. We agree with the trial court and find that the prosecutor failed to provide racially neutral explanations for his peremptory challenges excluding all blacks from the jury and, in view of the dictates of Batson (supra), we reverse and grant a new trial (see, People v Scott, 70 NY2d 420).

We have reviewed defendant’s remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. (Appeal from judgment of Erie County Court, McCarthy, J.—manslaughter, first degree; criminal possession of weapon, third degree.) Present—Doerr, J. P., Denman, Boomer, Pine and Lawton, JJ.

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— Judgment unanimously reversed on the law and new trial granted. Memorandum: This trial predated the Supreme Court’s decision in Batson v Kentucky (476 US 79); nevertheless, the trial court, with remarkable foresight, directed the prosecutor to put on the record his reasons for exercising peremptory challenges to seven black veniremen. The court determined that the prosecutor had given no racially neutral reasons for the exclusion of five potential jurors. Noting that systematic exclusion from a jury of members of a particular racial group was contrary to any perception of justice, the court, under the status of the law at that time, declined to declare a mistrial. We agree with the trial court and find that the prosecutor failed to provide racially neutral explanations for his peremptory challenges excluding all blacks from the jury and, in view of the dictates of Batson (supra), we reverse and grant a new trial (see, People v Scott, 70 NY2d 420).

We have reviewed defendant’s remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. (Appeal from judgment of Erie County Court, McCarthy, J.—manslaughter, first degree; criminal possession of weapon, third degree.) Present—Doerr, J. P., Denman, Boomer, Pine and Lawton, JJ.

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Bluebook (online)

149 A.D.2d 949, 540 N.Y.S.2d 81, 1989 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5966, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-stephens-nyappdiv-1989.

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