What is the effect of a single discriminatory exclusion on a defendant's right to a representative jury?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Howard, 1 Cal.4th 1132, 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 268, 824 P.2d 1315 (Cal. 1992):

I recognize that in this case the prosecutor exercised peremptory challenges against "only" two African-American jurors, but a single discriminatory exclusion violates a defendant's right to a representative jury (People v. Fuentes (1991) 54 Cal.3d 707, 716, fn. 4, 286 Cal.Rptr. 792, 818 P.2d 75), and in this case the prosecutor succeeded in removing all the African-American jurors who were tentatively seated. Instructive on this point is People v. Turner (1986) 42 Cal.3d 711, 230 Cal.Rptr. 656, 726 P.2d 102. There, as here, the prosecutor used two early peremptory challenges to remove the only African-American jurors tentatively seated. We commented that the trial court's implied finding of a prima facie case "was amply supported by the record." (Id. at p. 719, 230 Cal.Rptr. 656, 726 P.2d 102.) 6 Thus, it is

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