Florian Taong v. George Sumner, Director, Department of Public Safety, State of Hawaii Robert Marks, Attorney General, State of Hawaii

19 F.3d 29 NOTICE: Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3 provides that dispositions other than opinions or orders designated for publication are not precedential and should not be cited except when relevant under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. Florian TAONG, Petitioner-Appellant, v. George SUMNER, Director, Department of Public Safety, State of Hawaii; ROBERT MARKS, Attorney General, State of Hawaii, Respondents-Appellees. No. 93-16799. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Submitted March 8, 1994. * Decided March 10, 1994. Before: FLETCHER, BRUNETTI, and TROTT, Circuit Judges. 1 MEMORANDUM ** 2 Florian Taong, a Hawaii state prisoner, appeals the district court's dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Taong contends that the prosecutor in his trial for second degree murder impermissibly exercised peremptory challenges to exclude men from the jury. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2253 , and review de novo. Thomas v. Lewis, 945 F.2d 1119, 1122 (9th Cir.1991). We affirm. 3 Equal protection prohibits the prosecution from using its peremptory challenges to strike venirepersons on the basis of…