United States v. Tony Alanis

When a defendant objects to a prosecutor’s peremptory strikes of potential jurors in alleged violation of the Equal Protection Clause, trial courts are supposed to evaluate the constitutionality of the prosecutor’s actions using the three-step process the Supreme Court announced in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). In this appeal, we determine whether, after a prosecutor offers a race-neutral explanation for the peremptory strikes (step two of the Batson process), a trial court must proceed to step three to make a deliberate decision on purposeful discrimination even absent a further affirmative request by the defendant. We conclude that a defendant’s original objection imposes on the trial court an obligation to complete the third step of the Batson process, when required, without further request from counsel. We also hold that, on these facts, a Batson equal protection violation occurred.

I

In selecting a jury for Tony Alanis’s abusive sexual conduct trial, the prosecutor used all six of her peremptory challenges to strike men from the jury. Defense counsel objected, and the following exchange occurred:

The prosecutor then…