Pitchford v. Cain · ¶37

The judge accepted these reasons as race neutral and directed the parties to resume jury selection. Ibid. Mr. Pitchford did not object to that direction or otherwise seek to make a step three showing. Instead, after jury selection concluded, Mr. Pitchford's trial team approached the bench. There, they sought “to reserve . . . [their] Batson objection.” Id., at 175. The court agreed the Batson objection was “in the record,” but “f[ound] there to be no Batson violation.” Ibid. At that point, defense counsel reiterated their earlier statistical argument. “[O]ne,” “[a]nd only one,” of the final jury panel selected for service, Mr. Pitchford's lawyers said, was black even though the “county is approximately . . . 40 percent black.” Id., at 176.

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