BETTY JEAN STRODER AND CHIQUITA STRODER, APPELLANTS,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Betty Jean and Chiquita Stroder were convicted of battery, resisting officers, and assault. The appellate court reversed their convictions and remanded for a new trial because the prosecutor improperly exercised a peremptory challenge to strike a prospective juror, offering a pretextual reason unrelated to actual bias.
The appellate court held that the prosecutor's reason for the peremptory challenge was pretextual and that appellants are entitled to a new trial. The prosecutor failed to question the juror to substantiate his perception, making his stated rationale indistinguishable from the rejected pretext in State v. Slappy.
[1] When the state volunteers its reasons for exercising a peremptory challenge, the issue of whether the defense has met its initial burden to show a likelihood of discrimin…
[2] A prosecutor's stated reason for exercising a peremptory challenge, based on a prospective juror's work with emotionally handicapped students and the belief that such ind…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“My reason, Your Honor, for challenging Ms. Crafton is she works with emotionally handicapped students and is, therefore, a mental health professional and her husband is also a mental health professional. In my experience as a prosecutor, persons who have that background are not the sort of persons that I want on a jury because they are more into the helping mode rather than finding people guilty and punishing them.”
The prosecutor's stated reason for the peremptory challenge, which the court found to be pretextual.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDuring jury selection, the prosecutor used a peremptory challenge to strike prospective juror Ms. Crafton, an elementary school teacher of emotionally…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellants, Betty Jean Stroder and her daughter Chiquita Stroder, appeal their various convictions on the charges of battery of a law enforcement officer, resisting officer with violence, aggravated assault and resisting officer without violence. We reverse and remand for a new trial.
During jury selection, appellants objected to the state’s exercise of a peremptory challenge to strike prospective juror Ms. Crafton, an elementary school teacher assigned to teach emotionally handicapped students. The prosecutor immediately volunteered his reason for challenging Ms. Crafton, explaining: My reason, Your Honor, for challenging Ms. Crafton is she works with emotionally handicapped students and is, therefore, a mental health professional and her husband is also a mental health professional. In my experience as a prosecutor, persons who have that background are not the sort of persons that I want on a jury because they are more into the helping mode rather than finding people guilty and punishing them.
We first note that where the state volunteers its reasons for the exercise of a peremptory challenge the question whether the defense has satisfied its initial burden of showing a strong likelihood of racial discrimination in the exercise of such challenge becomes moot. Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 1859, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991).
On the merits, the reason offered by the prosecutor is, in our view, indistinguishable from the reason offered and rejected as pretextual in State v. Slappy, 522 So. 2d 18 (Fla.), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1219, 108 S.Ct. 2873, 101 L.Ed.2d 909 (1988).
In Slappy, the supreme court found that the state’s contention that elementary school assistant teachers, particularly the two in question, were “liberal” must be considered a pretext for racial discrimination where the state failed to pose even a few questions which could have established the existence or nonexistence of such trait in the prospective jurors. As in Slappy, the prosecutor failed to question Ms. Crafton to explore his perception of her liberality.
Accordingly, the state’s exercise of this peremptory challenge must be regarded as pretextual, and appellants are entitled to a new trial. In view of this disposition, we do not reach the other issues raised by appellants.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
ERVIN and MINER, JJ., and WENTWORTH, Senior Judge, concur.
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Suggs v. State, 624 So. 2d 833 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993)…es, or witnesses, or characteristics of the challenged persons other than race, then the inquiry should end and the jury selection should continue.” Neil, 457 So. 2d at 487. . See Brown v. State, 624 So. 2d 299 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993); Stroder v. State, 622 So. 2d 585 (Fla. 1st DCA1993).…
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Cobb v. State, 825 So. 2d 1080 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)…e’s explanation that it challenged two black HRS workers because they would be hostile to the prosecution was not supported by the record, as HRS workers were not questioned about their feelings toward the state attorney’s office); Stroder v. State, 622 So. 2d 585 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)(holding that the reason offered for peremptory strike of black teacher of emotionally handicapped students — that mental health professionals are more inclined to help people than convict and punish them — was pretext where the p…
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Reeves v. State, 632 So. 2d 702 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…such a trait was reversible error. Slappy, 522 So. 2d at 23-24. Slappy has consistently been applied to invalidate challenges where alleged group bias has not been shown to be shared by the prospective juror in question. See e.g., Stroder v. State, 622 So. 2d 585 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (prosecutor failed to question teacher of emotionally handicapped students to explore his perception of her liberality); House v. State, 614 So. 2d 647 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993) (prosecutor failed to question mental health field worker…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Slappy, 522 So. 2d 18 (Fla. 1988)
- Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352 (U.S. 1991)
- Men's Int'l Prof'l Tennis Council v. Volvo N. Am. Corp., 487 U.S. 1219 (U.S. 1988)
- Waste Mgmt. of Wis., Inc. v. Wis. Dep't of Natural Res., 487 U.S. 1219 (U.S. 1988)