People v. West CA1/5

DISCUSSION

I. Wheeler/Batson Claim

The use of peremptory challenges to eliminate prospective jurors based on group bias violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the right of a criminal defendant to a trial drawn from a representative cross-section of the community under article I, section 16 of the California Constitution. (Batson v. Kentucky, supra, 476 U.S. at p. 89; People v. Wheeler, supra, 22 Cal.3d at pp. 276–277.) When a party makes a motion challenging a peremptory strike on these grounds, trial courts follow the established, three-part Wheeler/Batson test for demonstrating purposeful discrimination: “First, the defendant must make out a prima facie case ‘by showing that the totality of the relevant facts gives rise to an inference of discriminatory purpose.’ [Citation.] Second, once the defendant has made out a prima facie case, the ‘burden shifts to the State to explain adequately the racial exclusion’ by offering permissible race-neutral justifications for the strikes. [Citations.] Third, ‘[i]f a race- neutral explanation is tendered, the trial court must then decide . . . whether the opponent of the strike…