Moss

Defendant Richard Moss appeals from the judgment entered after his conviction by jury of rape (Pen. Code, § 261, subd. (2)) and burglary (Pen. Code, § 459) with use of a deadly weapon (Pen. Code, § 12022.3, subd. (a); § 12022, subd. (b)) and his admission of three prior felony convictions (Pen. Code, §§ 667.5, subds. (a), (b); 667.6, subd. (a)). Defendant, who is Black, was convicted of breaking into the apartment of K.S., who is White, and forcibly raping her on March 17, 1982.

Defendant contends that his constitutional right to an impartial jury drawn from a representative cross-section of the community was violated by the prosecutor’s misuse of peremptory challenges to systematically exclude the only two Blacks in the venire from the jury. Under the circumstances of this case, we hold that defendant established a prima facie case of group discrimination by the prosecutor’s peremptory challenges of the only two Black jurors. We further hold that the prosecution met its burden to rebut the inference of group bias. Accordingly, we will affirm the judgment.

Discussion

I

Propriety of Peremptory Challenges

A. Procedural Background

There were only two Blacks in the jury…