Presenter:

Jerome Del Pino, Esq., Attorney for the Federal Capital Appellate Resource Counsel Project, Nashville, TN

When selecting a jury, both parties may remove potential jurors using an unlimited number of challenges for cause (e.g., stated reasons such as bias) and a limited number of peremptory challenges (i.e., do not need to state a reason).

At the trial of James Kirkland Batson for burglary and receipt of stolen goods, the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to remove all four African Americans from the jury pool. Batson challenged the removal of these jurors as violating his Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment(link is external).

This session will cover how to raise challenges to the jury pool as well as Batson challenges.