Robert McDaniels v. Richard Kirkland

Petitioners McDaniels and Jenkins appeal from the separate district court judgments denying their 28 U.S.C. § 2254 ha-beas petitions. We consider their appeals together.

Petitioners were tried and convicted together in the Alameda County Superior Court of California on a charge of first degree murder, among others. Here we consider only their argument, based on Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), that the prosecutor in their case excluded African-American jurors based on race during jury selection. In a separately filed unpublished disposition we consider their arguments that their counsel each provided ineffective assistance.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2258 . Applying de novo review, see Mitleider v. Hall, 391 F.3d 1039, 1046 (9th Cir.2004), we affirm.

I.

We need not recount the details of the crime, because we only consider Petitioners’ contention that the prosecutor excluded African-American jurors based on their race.

The state trial judge limited voir dire to thirty minutes total. He explained that this was because jurors filled out questionnaires, the purpose of which was to do away with the need for extensive…