The
defendant was charged with carrying a concealed weapon (CCW) and was tried
before a Wayne County jury. During jury
selection, the trial court overruled the defendant’s objection to the
prosecution’s use of three peremptory challenges to remove African-American
jurors from the jury panel. The trial
court also precluded, as racially motivated, the defense attempt to remove a
Caucasian juror. The jury convicted the
defendant of CCW, and the trial court sentenced him to one year of nonreporting
probation and 50 hours of community service.
The Court of Appeals affirmed in an unpublished per curiam opinion. The Supreme Court has granted leave to appeal
to address: (1) whether the
prosecution’s exercise of a peremptory challenge against prospective juror no. 2
violated Batson v Kentucky, 476 US 79 (1986); (2)
whether the trial court erroneously precluded the defendant from exercising a
peremptory challenge against prospective juror no. 5; (3) if so, whether such
an error should be subject to automatic reversal or harmless error review, Rivera v Illinois, 556 US 148, 162 (2009) (holding that a
trial court’s erroneous denial of a defendant’s peremptory challenge,
standing alone, is not a structural error under the federal constitution
requiring automatic reversal, but that “[s]tates are free to decide, as a
matter of state law, that a trial court’s mistaken denial of a peremptory
challenge is reversible error per se”) and compare, e.g., People v Bell,
473 Mich 275, 292-295 (2005) (stating in arguable dictum that harmless error
review applies to such errors) with Hardison
v State, 94 So 3d 1092,
1101 & n 37 (Miss, 2012) (plurality opinion) (citing “[a]t least five
states” that have adopted an automatic reversal rule as a matter of state law
and following those states); and (4) if so, whether reversal is
warranted in this case.