Cite as: 537 U. S. 322 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
mine whether the defendant has shown purposeful discrimination. Id., at 98.
After acknowledging petitioner had established an inference of purposeful discrimination, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals remanded the case for new findings in light of Batson. Miller-El v. State, 748 S. W. 2d 459 (1988). A post-trial hearing was held on May 10, 1988 (a little over two years after petitioner's jury had been empaneled). There, the original trial court admitted all the evidence presented at the Swain hearing and further evidence and testimony from the attorneys in the original trial. App. 843-844.
On January 13, 1989, the trial court concluded that petitioner's evidence failed to satisfy step one of Batson because it "did not even raise an inference of racial motivation in the use of the state's peremptory challenges" to support a prima facie case. App. 876. Notwithstanding this conclusion, the state court determined that the State would have prevailed on steps two and three because the prosecutors had offered credible, race-neutral explanations for each African-American excluded. The court further found "no disparate prosecutorial examination of any of the veniremen in question" and "that the primary reasons for the exercise of the challenges against each of the veniremen in question [was] their reluctance to assess or reservations concerning the imposition of the death penalty." Id., at 878. There was no discussion of petitioner's other evidence.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied petitioner's appeal, and we denied certiorari. Miller-El v. Texas, 510 U. S. 831 (1993). Petitioner's state habeas proceedings fared no better, and he was denied relief by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in Federal District Court pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 2254. Although petitioner raised four issues, we concern ourselves here with only petitioner's jury selection claim premised on Batson. The Federal Magistrate Judge who considered the merits
329
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007