Pitchford v. Cain · ¶36

The trial judge agreed that Mr. Pitchford had made a prima facie case under Batson and thus required the State to offer race-neutral reasons for each of the peremptory strikes it had used on black prospective jurors. The State did so. One prospective juror, it said, had returned late to court after lunch break and had a history of mental problems. 1 App. 86–88, 169. Two had brothers who had been convicted of violent offenses. Id., at 169–170. Another “had no opinion on the death penalty.” Id., at 170. Plus, he was similar to Mr. Pitchford in several ways: They were “approximately the [same] age,” they “both ha[d] children about the same age,” and they “both ha[d] never been married.” Ibid.

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