Avitt

MEMORANDUM *

Charles Emmett Avitt appeals the district court’s denial of his habeas petition. He alleges that the state trial court erred when it determined that he had not made a prima facie showing that the prosecutor exercised peremptory challenges on the basis of gender in violation of J.E.B. v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 127 , 114 S.Ct. 1419 , 128 L.Ed.2d 89 (1994). We affirm.

Avitt argues that the fact that 16 of the prosecutor’s 18 challenges were used to exclude women is sufficient to raise an inference of intentional discrimination. Although statistics alone may be enough to establish a prima facie case of discrimination in some instances, see, e.g., Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 97 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986) (“[A] ‘pattern’ of strikes against black jurors included in the particular venire might give rise to an inference of discrimination.”), in this case, the majority of the prospective jurors were women. In fact, there were a number of times when there were as many as nine women in the jury box, which translates to 75% of the individuals available for challenge.

Given these statistics and given the fact that seven of the twelve persons ultimately selected to…