People v. Lynch

The defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction, following a jury trial, of two counts of forcible rape (Pen. Code, § 261) and one count of kidnaping (Pen. Code, § 207).

Appellant contends he was denied a right to a trial by an impartial jury of his peers in the light of its racial, economic and educational composition. The jurors were selected exclusively from the Alameda County voter registration lists. Appellant argues there was a “non-deliberate” but systematic exclusion of appellant’s peers as jurors.

This same contention, as a basis for attacking the jury selection procedure in Alameda County, was recently raised in People v. Newton (1970) 8 Cal.App.3d 359 [ 87 Cal.Rptr. 394 ]. The court, in rejecting this contention, found that the record failed to establish an underrepresentation of black persons on the jury panel. In the light of these facts it cannot be said that an unconstitutional discrimination on racial or economic grounds occurred in the selection of prospective jurors from the Alameda County voter registration lists.

Appellant contends that he was improperly charged with kidnaping, and this charge, and the evidence offered in support of it,…