United States v. Julio Cesar Vasquez-Lopez

Julio Cesar Vasquez-Lopez appeals his conviction for cultivating marijuana and using a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense. 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e)(1). He argues that the government’s peremptory challenge of the only Black prospective juror violated Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). We affirm.

BACKGROUND

During jury selection, defense counsel objected to the government’s peremptory challenge to the only Black juror on the panel. The government began to offer an explanation for the challenge — the prosecutor’s perception that the prospective juror was inattentive and not interested in being a juror— when the judge interrupted and told defense counsel to explain what facts supported an inference of intentional discrimination. Vasquez-Lopez’s counsel stated that the challenged juror was the only Black juror on the entire panel and that she lived in South Central Los Angeles, as did Vasquez-Lopez. Counsel further contended that there was no reason to believe that the challenged juror, an accountant and mother of four children, would be an unqualified or biased juror. The district court ruled that…