United States v. Marcelo Santos-Cordero

MEMORANDUM

Appellant Marcelo Santos-Cordero was convicted by a jury for illegal reentry, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 , and making a false claim to United States citizenship, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 911 . On appeal, he argues the district court misapplied the procedure outlined in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), when evaluating the Government’s peremptory strike of a Hispanic juror.

A Batson challenge is evaluated using a three-step procedure. In the first step, “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.’” Johnson v. California, 545 U.S. 162, 168 , 125 S.Ct. 2410 , 162 L.Ed.2d 129 (2005) (quoting Batson, 476 U.S. at 93-94 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 ). Second, if that prima facie case is made out, the “ ‘burden shifts to the State to explain adequately the racial exclusion’ by offering permissible race-neutral justifications for the strikes.” Id. (quoting Batson, 476 U.S. at 94 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 ). Third, the trial court must decide whether, given all of the relevant facts, the race-neutral justification is credible, or defendant has…