State v. Sessions
Annotate this CaseDefendant was charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a minor arising out of his attack on his wife in the presence of the parties’ four-year-old daughter. During voir dire, defense counsel used all five of his peremptory challenges on female members of the venire. The prosecution objected, and because Defendant failed to give nondiscriminatory explanations for two of the strikes, the trial court reinstated those two jurors. The court, however, did not restore the two peremptory challenges Defendant used to strike the jurors. The court of appeals affirmed, concluding that Defendant had not shown he was actually prejudiced by his counsel’s allegedly deficient performance or by the trial court’s alleged errors. the Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Defendant failed to show that any prejudice arose from any arguable deficiency in his counsel’s performance or that there was a basis for a presumption of prejudice; and (2) Defendant failed to establish the elements of plain error in regard to the trial court’s decision to reinstate the two jurors and its failure to sua sponte restore the peremptory challenges used to strike them.
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