California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Davis, 164 Cal.App.4th 305, 78 Cal. Rptr. 3d 809 (Cal. App. 2008):
(3) "In determining whether the defendant ultimately has carried his burden of proving purposeful racial discrimination, `the trial court "must make `a sincere and reasoned attempt to evaluate the prosecutor's explanation in light of the circumstances of the case as then known, his knowledge of trial techniques, and his observations of the manner in which the prosecutor has examined members of the venire and has exercised challenges for cause or peremptorily ....' [Citation.]"' (People v. Reynoso (2003) 31 Cal.4th 903, 919 [3 Cal.Rptr.3d 769, 74 P.3d 852].) `[T]he trial court is not required to make specific or detailed comments for the record to justify every instance in which a prosecutor's race-neutral reason for exercising a peremptory challenge is being accepted by the court as genuine.' (Ibid.) Inquiry by the trial court is not even required. (Id. at p. 920.) `All that matters is that the prosecutor's reason for exercising the peremptory challenge is sincere and legitimate, legitimate in the sense of being nondiscriminatory.' (Id. at p. 924.) A reason that makes no sense is nonetheless `sincere and legitimate' as long as it does not deny equal protection. (Ibid.)" (People v. Guerra (2006) 37 Cal.4th 1067, 1100-1101 [40 Cal.Rptr.3d 118, 129 P.3d 321]; see also People v. Stanley (2006) 39 Cal.4th 913, 936 [47 Cal.Rptr.3d 420, 140 P.3d 736].)
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