U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Lemuel Carter, Jr. v. Michael Kemna Jeremiah (Jay) W. Nixon, Missouri Attorney General
This writing
- Type
- Opinion of the Court
- Author
- George Gardner Fagg
- Filed
- July 3, 2001
- Case
- Lemuel Carter, Jr. v. Michael Kemna Jeremiah (Jay) W. Nixon, Missouri Attorney General
- Case status
- Decided
Opening text
The first passage of the document, as extracted by the source provider.
FAGG, Circuit Judge. The State of Missouri charged Lemuel Carter, Jr. with second-degree murder, robbery, assault, and armed criminal action. During jury selection at Carter’s trial, the prosecution used a peremptory challenge to exclude an African-American, Mr. Hurst, from the pool of potential alternate jurors. Carter objected asserting the *591 exclusion was based solely on Hurst’s race in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). At a Batson hearing, the prosecution stated Hurst was challenged because he did not respond consistently to written and oral voir dire questions about being the victim of a crime. Defense counsel asserted the prosecutor’s explanation was a pretext for intentional discrimination because a similarly situated white potential juror, Mr. Weis, was not removed. The court overruled Carter’s objection. The originally empaneled jury convicted Carter. No alternate jurors joined deliberations. Carter renewed his Batson challenge on direct appeal. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed Carter’s conviction, concluding that although Hurst and Weis were similarly situated, the reason for excluding Hurst was immaterial. Stat…
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Other writings in this case
| Type | Author | Filed |
|---|---|---|
| Dissent | Richard Sheppard Arnold | July 3, 2001 |