State v. Smith

Citations

• 2018 Ohio 2567

Syllabus

Trial court properly employed the three-prong analysis of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986) when, after the prosecutor articulated a race-neutral reason for the peremptory challenge, the court determined that the proffered reason was credible and not a pretext for discrimination. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding evidence of a victim's character (dangerousness) and specific acts of violence. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in permitting evidence that defendant, as part of the series of encounters with one victim, fired gunshots at that victim's grandmother's home. Judgment affirmed. (Hall, J., concurring.)