Scott v. Gelb, No. 14-1953 (1st Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial in a Massachusetts court, Appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree and other crimes. On appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), Appellant, who is African-American, argued that the superior court erred by allowing the prosecutor’s peremptory challenge of juror No. 10-10, an African-American woman. The SJC ruled that the superior court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the peremptory challenge to Juror No. 10-10 because defense counsel did not object to the argument that three African-American jurors had already been seated. Thereafter, Appellant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254, arguing that his state court convictions constituted an unreasonable application of federal law in Batson v. Kentucky. The district court denied the petition. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the SJC reasonably concluded that the trial judge found that Appellant had not met his burden to make out a prima facie case of discrimination.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on January 22, 2016.
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