United States v. Fe Garrett
Opinion
Opinion
MEMORANDUM
Fe S. Garrett was convicted for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, filing false income tax returns, and willful failure to pay tax. She was sentenced to 65 months imprisonment and now appeals her conviction and sentence. We affirm.
Garrett first argues that she is entitled to a new trial because the prosecutor struck F.M., the only Filipino juror on the venire, in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Steps one and two of the Batson framework are not in dispute. Only step three of the Batson inquiry is at issue and thus the sole question is whether the trial court clearly erred in concluding that there was no purposeful discrimination. Tolbert v. Page, 182 F.3d 677 , 680 n. 5 (9th Cir.1999). We conclude that the district judge did not clearly err. The prosecutor’s proffered reasons for striking F.M. were his youthful age and lack of employment history. The government alleged it sought jurors who had a history of working and filing taxes, experience relevant to the critical issues in this tax fraud case. The prosecutor’s race-neutral explanations were permissible and plausible.