Wilson v. Strickland


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Docket Number: 2005-CA-02235-COA
Oral Argument: 11-15-2006
 

 

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Court of Appeals: Opinion Link
Opinion Date: 04-03-2007
Opinion Author: BARNES, J.
Holding: CIRCUIT COURT’S RULING REVERSED AND COUNTY COURT’S JUDGMENT REINSTATED

Additional Case Information: Topic: Personal injury - Peremptory challenge
Judge(s) Concurring: King, C.J., Lee and Myers, P.JJ., Irving, Chandler, Griffis, Ishee, Roberts and Carlton, JJ.
Procedural History: Bench Trial
Nature of the Case: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY

Trial Court: Date of Trial Judgment: 10-19-2005
Appealed from: Harrison County Circuit Court
Judge: Stephen Simpson
Disposition: COUNTY COURT JURY RENDERED VERDICT IN FAVOR OF WILSON. STRICKLAND APPEALED TO CIRCUIT COURT WHICH REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL.
Case Number: A-2401-2004-211

  Party Name: Attorney Name:  
Appellant: CHARLIE J. WILSON




ROBERT W. ATKINSON



 

Appellee: SHANE STRICKLAND JAMES KENNETH WETZEL  

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Topic: Personal injury - Peremptory challenge

Summary of the Facts: Charlie Wilson was sued by Shane Strickland in county court for damages for injuries allegedly sustained in an automobile accident. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of Wilson, and Strickland appealed to circuit court. The circuit court reversed and remanded for a new trial. Wilson appeals.

Summary of Opinion Analysis: The circuit court, in reviewing Strickland’s appeal, reversed the county court’s decision based on the county court’s denial of Strickland’s use of a peremptory challenge on a black juror. Strickland is white and Wilson is black. The juror was the only black on the jury. Wilson argues that great deference should be given to the ruling of the county court to determine whether the race-neutral reasons given to strike the juror were credible. The most accurate determination of whether a peremptory challenge is truthful or pretextual is made by the trial judge. Here, the circuit court did not give proper weight to the county court’s determination, but instead reversed primarily on the weight of the evidence. However, the evidence presented was sufficient, and the decision of the county court was not clearly erroneous. Strickland’s counsel gave race-neutral reasons after the trial judge requested them, which was at the attorney’s prompting. Since the attorney gave alleged race-neutral reasons without objecting to the request, his argument that Wilson did not meet his prima facie showing of intentional discrimination is moot. In requesting the strike, the two reasons given to justify it were that the juror was Baptist (Wilson worked for the Baptist Church at the time of the accident) and that she worked for the Department of Human Services. When the treatment of a minority juror is different from the treatment of similar non-minority jurors, this may be a basis for deciding the race-neutral reason for striking the juror is invalid. As the judge noted, Strickland did not strike another juror, who was also a Baptist and white. The fact that the juror is Baptist, when the Baptist Church is not even a party to the case, and that another white Baptist juror was empaneled and not stricken, points most strongly to pretext, not race neutrality. Apparently because of her employment with DHS, Strickland thought she was too well-educated to sit on this jury. Although case law abounds on finding under-education as a race-neutral rationale for peremptory strikes, neither party in this case has cited any legal authority that being too well-educated would be a race-neutral factor for peremptorily striking a juror. Thus, the circuit court was in error in reversing the county court’s decision.


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