Trial judge erred by ruling no prima facie case was made
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James Russell won his appeal again. This time it was an appeal from a Batson hearing. The last time I appealed Russell's case, the Second District Court of Appeals ruled that a Batson hearing should have been held as you can read here. On remand the trial judge held a Batson hearing but decided that the defense had not made a prima facie case (the first step in the Batson analysis). Russell appealed from that decision. Today the Second District Court of Appeals for Montgomery County ruled that the trial judge erred in ruling that a prima facie case had not been made. The Appeals Court held that the quantum of proof required for a finding that a defendant has made a prima facie case is minimal and Russell met that burden in this case. Read the decision in State v. Russell, 2012-Ohio-422, here.
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