{"id":2419,"date":"2020-10-01T16:33:53","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T20:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/?p=2419"},"modified":"2020-10-01T16:33:53","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T20:33:53","slug":"massachusetts-sjc-decision-will-promote-the-goal-of-all-voices-being-heard-in-the-jury-room-by-lowering-the-bar-to-show-juror-was-excluded-based-on-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-sjc-decision-will-promote-the-goal-of-all-voices-being-heard-in-the-jury-room-by-lowering-the-bar-to-show-juror-was-excluded-based-on-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts SJC decision will promote the goal of all voices being heard in the jury room by lowering the bar to show Juror was excluded based on Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"Standard\" style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\">The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made it easier for defendant to show race improperly played a role in prosecutors using a peremptory challenge on a juror by eliminating the requirement that a defendant show a pattern of conduct in excluding minority jurors. \u00a0Prosecutors no longer get a free opportunity to strike one juror based on race because other were kept on the jury. \u00a0This is an important victory preserving the right to a fair trial and making sure all voices are heard in the jury room. \u00a0 \u00a0The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court changed the standard for challenging peremptory strikes in Massachusetts state court. The Supreme Judicial Court has adopted the standard of <i>Batson v. Kentucky<\/i>, \u201cretiring\u201d the language of <i>Commonwealth v. Soares<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Standard\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The defendant in <i>Commonwealth v. Sanchez<\/i> challenged the prosecution\u2019s peremptory strike in which a nineteen year old African American was removed from the jury. The trial judge upheld the peremptory strike. The defendant appealed. After losing his state appeal, the defendant applied for federal <i>habeas corpus<\/i> relief. There, the judge noted that the Massachusetts standard for challenging peremptory strikes in <i>Soares<\/i> was harder for defendants to meet than <i>Batson<\/i>. Still, defendant was denied <i>habeas <\/i>relief. Defendant then moved for a new trial in state court, which was granted. The Commonwealth appealed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"Standard\"><strong>A Pattern of Discrimination is no longer required when challenging Race Based use of Peremptory Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-sjc-decision-will-promote-the-goal-of-all-voices-being-heard-in-the-jury-room-by-lowering-the-bar-to-show-juror-was-excluded-based-on-race\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading Massachusetts SJC decision will promote the goal of all voices being heard in the jury room by lowering the bar to show Juror was excluded based on Race\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made it easier for defendant to show race improperly played a role in prosecutors using a peremptory challenge on a juror by eliminating the requirement that a defendant show a pattern of conduct in excluding minority jurors. \u00a0Prosecutors no longer get a free opportunity to strike one juror based on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-important-sjc-decisions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Massachusetts SJC decision will promote the goal of all voices being heard in the jury room by lowering the bar to show Juror was excluded based on Race &#8212; Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; October 1, 2020<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made it easier for defendant to show race improperly played a role in prosecutors using a peremptory challenge on &#8212; October 1, 2020\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-sjc-decision-will-promote-the-goal-of-all-voices-being-heard-in-the-jury-room-by-lowering-the-bar-to-show-juror-was-excluded-based-on-race\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Massachusetts SJC decision will promote the goal of all voices being heard in the jury room by lowering the bar to show Juror was excluded based on Race &#8212; Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; October 1, 2020\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made it easier for defendant to show race improperly played a role in prosecutors using a peremptory challenge on &#8212; October 1, 2020\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael DelSignore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Massachusetts SJC decision will promote the goal of all voices being heard in the jury room by lowering the bar to show Juror was excluded based on Race &#8212; Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; October 1, 2020","description":"The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made it easier for defendant to show race improperly played a role in prosecutors using a peremptory challenge on &#8212; October 1, 2020","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-sjc-decision-will-promote-the-goal-of-all-voices-being-heard-in-the-jury-room-by-lowering-the-bar-to-show-juror-was-excluded-based-on-race\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Massachusetts SJC decision will promote the goal of all voices being heard in the jury room by lowering the bar to show Juror was excluded based on Race &#8212; Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog &#8212; October 1, 2020","twitter_description":"The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made it easier for defendant to show race improperly played a role in prosecutors using a peremptory challenge on &#8212; October 1, 2020","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael DelSignore","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-sjc-decision-will-promote-the-goal-of-all-voices-being-heard-in-the-jury-room-by-lowering-the-bar-to-show-juror-was-excluded-based-on-race\/","url":"https:\/\/www.delsignoredefense.com\/blog\/massachusetts-sjc-decision-will-promote-the-goal-of-all-voices-being-heard-in-the-jury-room-by-lowering-the-bar-to-show-juror-was-excluded-based-on-race\/","name":"Massachusetts SJC decision will promote the goal of all voices being heard in the jury room by lowering the bar to show Juror was excluded based on Race &#8212; 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