re: Deputies arrest 4 in LSU student Madison Brooks case

Do you really want to get into the intricacies of Batson?

Yeah, I’m not going play that game.

The practical result of Batson is that a prosecutor better have a damn good non-racial reason for using a peremptory on a minority. Technically, it should apply to both the prosecution and defense as it’s not really the right of a defendant to have black jurors on his jury, but it’s the right of the juror to actually serve on the jury. Of course, that’s more theory than reality.

Edmonson applied the same concept to civil jury trials. Having said that, it’s mainly applied to prosecutors in criminal trials.

I've never seen a case with respect to a white juror where defense counsel tries to get an all black jury, but I would love to see that case. It would seem that Batson and Edmonton should also be applied to white jurors who are excluded strictly because of their race.


Having said all of that, there are some cases where I think it’s malpractice not to take race as a major consideration in picking a jury. Certainly social economic upbringing also plays into it. However, if you’re were representing O.J. or Marion Barry in his D.C. crack case, you had better try to get the blackest jury you could possibly get. On the other hand, if you’re representing the cops who beat Rodney King, you better try to get the whitist lower-middle class jury you can possibly get.