Phillips

Defendant Nicholas Phillips was found guilty by a jury of robbing a Togo’s sandwich shop. (Pen. Code, § 211.) Defendant waived jury trial on enhancements that were based on a prior serious felony conviction (§ 667, subds. (a), (b)-(i)), and the trial court found the enhancements true. The trial court denied probation and sentenced defendant to a state prison term of 11 years.

Defendant appeals, contending the trial court erred by denying his Batson-Wheeler motion. The principal question before us is whether it was proper for the trial court to require explanations for only two of the three prospective jurors who were the subject of defendant’s motion. We conclude that it was and shall affirm the judgment.

BACKGROUND

Defendant, who is African-American, brought a Batson-Wheeler motion during voir dire after the prosecuting attorney exercised three of four peremptory challenges to excuse African-American prospective jurors. With respect to one of the prospective jurors, the trial court noted:

The prosecuting attorney explained she had excused one of the jurors because he was a teacher at a religious school and it had been her experience that such jurors had difficulty…