People v. Melendez CA2/5

I. INTRODUCTION

Alfonso Melendez, Jr. (defendant) argues the trial court should have sustained a defense objection under Code of Civil Procedure section 231.7 (section 231.7) contesting the prosecution’s exercise of a peremptory challenge against a Black female prospective juror who reported a negative experience with law enforcement approximately nine years earlier in an out-of- state jurisdiction. We agree the objection should have been sustained because the peremptory strike was presumptively invalid under the statute and the reason the prosecutor articulated for striking the prospective juror did not “bear on the prospective juror’s ability to be fair and impartial in the case.” (§ 231.7, subd. (e).)

II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND1

The Los Angeles County District Attorney (District Attorney) charged defendant with (1) the premeditated murder of Ruben Garcia (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)2), (2) shooting at an inhabited dwelling (§ 246), and (3) two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1)).3 With respect to

Because the underlying facts of the conviction are not relevant to our analysis of the issue on appeal, we do not discuss them in…