Todd JOHNSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Arb CAMPBELL; Charles Gross; City of Newport Beach; Donald Strauss, Defendants-Appellees

Plaintiff-appellant Todd Johnson brought a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , alleging that Campbell, a police officer, used excessive force against him during the course of his arrest. The jury returned a verdict for the defense. On appeal, Johnson contends that the district court erred by refusing to question a juror about his sexual orientation when Johnson made a Batson objection to the defense’s peremptory challenge of the juror. See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). We need not decide the question whether a challenge based on sexual orientation falls within the rule of Batson ; we assume for purposes of decision that it does. We nevertheless reject Johnson’s appeal, because he did not offer facts or circumstances that created an inference of purposeful discrimination. The district court therefore did not err in declining to question the juror about his sexual orientation.

I. BACKGROUND

During the voir dire, the judge asked the jurors about their past jury experiences. Two jurors had had recent jury experience in similar trials involving claims against police officers. The first juror stated that he had been on the jury in a…