United States v. Daniel Osazuwa, Jr.

MEMORANDUM

Daniel Osazuwa appeals from a judgment of conviction following a jury trial. He argues that the district court erred in denying his motion under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), to prevent the government from exercising a peremptory strike against a potential juror on the basis of her sexual orientation. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

As in Johnson v. Campbell, 92 F.3d 951 (9th Cir.1996), “[w]e need not decide the question whether a challenge based on sexual orientation falls within the rule of Batson ; we assume for purposes of decision that it does.” Id. at 951. Even if Batson extends to sexual orientation, however, the district court did not clearly err in finding that Osazuwa had failed to carry his burden of showing purposeful discrimination.

As a threshold matter, we find that the district court did conduct the inquiry re quired at the third stage of the Batson framework: it “made a deliberate decision on the ultimate question of purposeful discrimination.” United States v. Alanis, 335 F.3d 965 , 968 n. 2 (9th Cir.2003). The district court’s analysis was by no means as thorough as would be…