Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 18 of 18

Thread: Cedric Theodis Hobbs, Jr. Sentenced in 2010 NC Slaying of Kyle Harris

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Medical examiner testifies in Fayetteville pawnship murder trial

    The bullet that killed Kyle Harris in 2010 hit his windpipe and esophagus before striking the carotid artery on the left side of his neck, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy testified Wednesday.

    "You have enough blood in the brain to last about 10 seconds," said Thomas Owens, a Mecklenburg County medical examiner who specializes in forensic pathology. "What happens is - he's bleeding very rapidly. If they're not resuscitated in the next couple of minutes, they will be dead."

    Owens' testimony came in the Cumberland County Superior Court trial for Cedric Theodis Hobbs Jr., 33, of Thomson, Georgia. Hobbs admitted in court last week that he shot and killed the 19-year-old Harris during a robbery of Cumberland Pawn Shop on Nov. 6, 2010. But Hobbs' lawyers say Hobbs does not admit "to mental intent."

    Murder by premeditation and deliberation and robbery are specific intent crimes, according to state law. The defense contends that Hobbs had diminished mental capacity and did not form the specific intent required to commit murder and robbery.

    Owens' testimony wrapped up Wednesday's proceedings. Judge Robert Floyd Jr. excused jurors at 12:30 p.m. They aren't scheduled to report back until 9 a.m. Monday.

    Though Owens answered prosecutor Robby Hicks' questions on the autopsy exam in a studied, matter-of-fact manner, his testimony proved emotional for members of the Harris family.

    Cheryl Harris, Kyle's mother, kept a heavy coat wrapped around her - her legs pumping as she sobbed. Deborah Davis, who was also crying, reached back and placed a hand on her sister's leg to comfort her.

    On the other side of the courtroom, Hobbs - who is facing the possibility of death if convicted of first-degree murder - sat stoically beside his lawyers, his face bereft of emotion.

    Hobbs is also charged with armed robbery and kidnapping.

    Harris, a 2009 graduate of Cape Fear High School, had been working at the Grove Street pawnshop as an assistant manager on weekends to help out the family and pay his way through college.

    Robby Hicks, an assistant district attorney, asked Owens what caused Harris' death.

    "The main thing, from the gunshot wound," he said. "That's the thing that caused his death. The carotid artery and the bleeding."

    Owens then further defined the cause of death as "a gunshot wound of the upper chest and to the neck area."

    Earlier, Fayetteville police forensics technician Terri Williams resumed her testimony from Tuesday.

    Williams testified Wednesday morning that she processed the crime scene for fingerprints at the pawnshop and inside a red Chevrolet Suburban that Hobbs and his accomplice, Alexis Mattocks, had parked outside the business on the day of the murder. Mattocks, 23, of Washington, struck a plea deal early last year, pleading guilty to first-degree murder and conspiracy. She's serving a life sentence without parole.

    Williams testified that she also did gunshot-residue tests, retrieved evidence from the SUV and took swabs of suspected blood and DNA evidence.

    On cross-examination, lawyer Lisa Miles repeatedly returned to probing questions regarding evidence gathered at the crime scene, asking whether all of it had been sent to a lab for analysis. She appeared to try to put doubt in jurors' minds, questioning why Williams had not done the analysis herself.

    "Are you the one responsible for packing up the evidence and sending it out?" Miles asked.

    "No, ma'am," Williams said.

    "You personally didn't send out any preserved evidence?"

    "No, ma'am."

    And later, "To your knowledge, was that soil and vegetation evidence (taken from the SUV) sent off for analysis?" Miles asked.

    "I'm not sure, ma'am," Williams replied.

    "The DNA evidence," Miles said. "Any of that DNA - any of those slides sent off?"

    "I don't know what was sent to the lab," Williams said.

    http://www.fayobserver.com/news/loca...753f258cd.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  2. #12
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Defendant's aunt testifies about family's background

    Sheila Hobbs Hill, the first witness called in the defense of Cedric Hobbs Jr., gave a little credibility to both sides of the case.

    Or at least that's what the lawyers hoped.

    Hobbs admits to shooting to death pawnshop employee Kyle Harris and stealing Harris's car in November of 2010. He was riding with his accomplice and fiancee, Alexis Mattocks, as well as their 11-month-old daughter, Storm, in a child seat. Lawyers in Cumberland County Superior Court are arguing over Hobbs' state of mind at the time of the murder.

    Defense lawyer Lisa Miles had previewed in opening statements her plan to argue that Hobbs' family's brokenness and mental issues put Hobbs - who family members call "Scooter" - on a path to ruin.

    Hill testified on Monday that she was one of five children raised by an unwed mother, who had taken in three nieces and nephews.

    She says her mother had a nervous breakdown when Hill was 12, and the children were scattered, including her brother, Cedric Hobbs Sr., father of the accused. Hill says her own father was never around.

    Asked by Miles how many stepbrothers and stepsisters she has.

    "Maybe 20," she said. " Maybe more. Our papa was a rolling stone."

    Her brother, Cedric Sr., was not present for "Scooter" either, Hill says, in part because he was in prison off and on for 20 years.

    He attempted suicide four times, she said. As for Hobbs' mother, she exited his life when he was young, leaving him to be raised by his aunt, Monica, and her husband, Walter.

    But Hill says Hobbs did well when he lived with the couple in Washington, D.C. Hill's family visited yearly, and Hobbs excelled in school and in the marching band, she said.

    Prosecutor Robby Hicks latched on to the narrative.

    "He looked good?" Hicks asked. "He'd been eating?"

    Hill said yes.

    Hicks clarified that Hobbs' family included several ministers, including Hill's husband.

    "Your family is a Christian-based family?" Hicks asked. "People were taught these sorts of values in the home?"

    Where he was going was no mystery. If Hobbs knew right from wrong, it undermines the defense claim that his mind was so scattered, he was hardly in control that fateful day in 2010.

    Hill said that Hobbs, a drug-abuser who had previous run-ins with the law, had a new outlook in the weeks before the murder.

    "I could tell he wasn't doing drugs because his eyes weren't red," she said. He had a job in construction and was all about caring for his daughter, Hill said.

    "Things were not too bad for him?" Hicks proposed.

    Hill would not go that far but agreed that Hobbs had goals and an ability to carry them out.

    Hicks, in a peculiar departure from his portrait of a stable Hobbs, went into Hobbs' childhood and asked if Hill knew that Hobbs had stabbed cats to death and hammered frogs.

    Taken aback, Hill said she did not know.

    Maybe the tactic was to remind the jury that "Scooter" had a brutal streak that was all about him, and not his family.

    http://www.fayobserver.com/opinion/n...dad638ebb.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  3. #13
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Hobbs declines to take the stand; closing arguments Friday

    Today marks the last opportunity for the defense to sway jurors into believing that defendant Cedric Theodis Hobbs Jr. did not intend to kill 19-year-old Kyle Harris during a robbery in a Fayetteville pawnshop four years ago.

    Closing arguments in the seven-week-long murder trial are scheduled and also represent the final chance for the state to bolster its case that Harris' death was "the heart of the crime the defendant committed." The prosecution has presented the murder as part of a crime spree that started in Georgia on Nov. 5, 2010, continued the following day in Fayetteville and ended that night in the nation's capital.

    Hobbs, 33, has admitted in Cumberland County Superior Court that he shot Harris, leading to the death of the 2009 Cape Fear High School graduate, and he robbed the Cumberland Pawn Shop on Grove Street. And while Hobbs has committed to the acts involved, his attorneys say the defendant does not commit to mental intent.

    Murder by premeditation and deliberation, and robbery are specific intent crimes, according to the law.

    Through testimony, the defense team has built a case saying Hobbs had diminished mental capacity from a combination of psychiatric illnesses and substance abuse and did not form the specific intent required to commit the crimes of murder and robbery.

    Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in courtroom 4A.

    On Thursday, Hobbs told Judge Robert Floyd he did not want to testify on his behalf in his trial.

    "Is it your decision not to testify?" the judge asked.

    "Yes, sir," Hobbs said.

    The defense wrapped up its evidence earlier before Floyd and the lawyers met to discuss the instructions that would be read to jurors.

    The 12-member jury will decide if Hobbs is guilty of first-degree murder, two counts each of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

    If found guilty of first-degree murder, he could be sentenced to death.

    Also, a forensic psychiatrist testified Hobbs did not intend to kill Harris during the robbery.

    "Hobbs cannot completely recall what happened," Dr. George P. Corvin told the jury. "That's still correct."

    Corvin testified Wednesday that Hobbs suffers from persistent depressive disorder, major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and is also a substance abuser. The Raleigh-based private psychiatrist told the court he believed Hobbs' ability to use judgment at the time of the shooting was diminished. He said Hobbs is the product of a family history "fully loaded" with psychiatric illness.

    Prosecutor Rita Cox questioned Corvin on whether Hobbs had characteristics associated with antisocial personality disorder. She listed a number of criteria of the disorder and asked Corvin if Hobbs "fit" with those characteristics.

    "Does he meet six of the criteria? The answer is 'Yes,'"Corvin agreed.

    Cox then challenged him on why he had not diagnosed Hobbs with antisocial personality disorder.

    "He doesn't have it," Corvin said.

    Corvin said "a cookbook approach" cannot be used to make diagnostic formulations.

    Cox delved into the Georgia homicide, where Hobbs is also suspected of killing Rondriako Burnett the day before Harris was killed in Fayetteville. Prosecutors say Hobbs drove Burnett's Suburban to Fayetteville, where it could not be restarted in front of the pawnshop. After allegedly ditching the Suburban for Harris' Saturn Ion, Hobbs and his fiancee, Alexis Mattocks, were arrested in Washington, D.C.

    Citing Corvin's interviews with the defendant, Cox asked, "He said he was mad at Ron Burnett and wanted to kill him?"

    "Yes," Corvin responded.

    "He said right then he wanted to do something to him?"

    "That is correct."

    But Corvin then elaborated, saying Hobbs views the two homicides differently. Hobbs saw Burnett, a drug dealer according to previous testimony, as a bad man. Burnett had startled Mattocks and caused their young daughter, Storm, to cry when Burnett fired a weapon in the air to scare Hobbs, Corvin said.

    Hobbs saw it as being disrespectful to him, the psychiatrist said.

    The defendant owed Burnett $40 for a crack cocaine debt, the defendant's brother said earlier in the trial, and was also interested in buying more drugs.

    Corvin said in his interviews with Hobbs, the defendant has shown remorse about the Harris shooting. The psychiatrist said Hobbs doesn't understand why he did it.

    Corvin said that's because the shooting was done emotionally in a split second.

    The plan, he testified, was to rob the store and take money and guns. The plan, Corvin said, was never to kill Harris.

    "He planned everything - the robbery - until he shot Kyle Harris," he said. "In that instant, his plan went to hell."

    http://www.fayobserver.com/news/loca...f79316a02.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  4. #14
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Cedric Hobbs Jr. convicted of first-degree murder in Kyle Harris trial

    Cedric Theodis Hobbs Jr. has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 2010 shooting death of Kyle Harris.

    Jurors began deliberations in the case at 2:50 this afternoon and came back with a verdict later in the day.

    Harris' mother, Cheryl Harris, said she was satisfied with the verdict.

    "I'm so happy, I'm so elated,'' she said.

    The jury has been dismissed for the day. They will return to court Monday morning, when they are expected to begin hearing evidence in the sentencing phase.

    Hobbs could be sentenced to death.

    Hobbs also was found guilty of two counts each of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

    Lawyers concluded closing arguments earlier in the afternoon, leaving jurors with the task of determining how Hobbs should pay for the crime.

    Hobbs has admitted to presiding Superior Court Judge Robert Floyd Jr. that he shot the 19-year-old Harris, leading to his death, and that he robbed the Cumberland Pawn Shop, both on the late afternoon of Nov. 6, 2010.

    But his lawyers have said what he did was not by intent - a thought-out action. Rather, it was a spur-of-the-moment reflex.

    "I'm going to ask you to look into the mind of Cedric Hobbs at the moment that the gun was shot," defense lawyer Steve Freedman told the jury early during his 75-minute argument.

    "He left his fingerprints," he said in the calm voice of a Southern Presbyterian minister. "It was all on video."

    And when he was arrested in Washington, D.C., in Harris' Saturn Ion, the lawyer said, "he told the investigators what he did."

    Freedman then went on to talk about the neglect and abandonment Hobbs suffered as a child, being passed around from one relative to another. Those early attachments create a foundation, he said.

    "It is the foundation of how that child is going to spend the rest of his or her life seeing the world,'' Freedman said.

    But Hobbs' life, he added, was filled with chaos.

    On top of emerging mental illness, he said, the defendant was abusing drugs for self-medication purposes. "That's what people do to make them feel better," he said.

    "All the medical health records, all the records, all the statements from family and friends - the prosecution pulled out comments, statements and certainly pulled out bad things since he was a child,'' Freedman said. "That's what we've been trying to tell you. He does have problems. He's mentally ill.''

    Freedman maintained that his client did not intend to kill Harris, who had been working in the pawnshop on weekends to help support his family and pay his way through college.

    Hobbs never made an attempt to shoot the other two employees in the pawnshop that day, according to Freedman. He said if that attempt had been made, the defendant would have been charged with that, too.

    Mental illness, Freedman argued, affects the way one sees the world: Hobbs thinking was affected by conditions of hyper-vigilance and hyper-arousness.

    And his client pulled the trigger "not by thought-out actions, but by reflex," he said. "Kyle Harris moved and the gun was fired. That's not premeditation or meditation. That's simply reflex."

    Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West then followed with the state's closing arguments.

    The prosecutor tore into the defense's case from the get-go.

    After noting that Hobbs "had some difficulties, he had some problems," West questioned the defense's admission that the handgun jammed after Harris was shot.

    Again and again during his argument, West drove home the point that the defendant would have killed again had the Lorcin .380 semiautomatic not been faulty.

    "The defendant said the gun jammed," said West, who prowled before the jury without the help of notes. "It didn't jam when he killed Kyle Harris. He told (defense witness, forensic psychiatrist Dr. George) Corvin that the gun jammed. We didn't pick and chose things to make him look bad. We picked and chose what would be important to our case."

    And then West told the jury, "He attempted to shoot him (Harris) again. There was no reason to re-chamber that gun unless he thought he would use it again."

    West said the murder was part of a crime spree that started in Georgia on Nov. 5, 2010, continued the following day in Fayetteville and ended that night in the nation's capital.

    Through testimony, the defense team has built a case saying Hobbs had diminished mental capacity from a combination of psychiatric illnesses and substance abuse and did not form the specific intent required to commit the crimes of murder and robbery.

    http://www.fayobserver.com/news/loca...56de855b3.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  5. #15
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Kyle Harris' mother, sister emotionally testify as sentencing phase gets underway

    The sister of Kyle Harris, the 2009 Cape Fear High School graduate who was killed during a robbery at a Fayetteville pawnshop in 2010, said Monday his death has been devastating for their mother.

    Lori Naomh struggled at times as she testified in Cumberland County Superior Court during the sentencing hearing for the man convicted of killing her brother.

    "It's left a hole in my heart I can't fill," Naomh said, her cheeks flushed from crying. "I'm pretty depressed because I can't get over it. I miss him so much."

    Asked by prosecutor Robby Hicks how the 19-year-old Harris' death has impacted the family, Naomh said, "It has devastated my Mom."

    On Friday, jurors deliberated about an hour before convicting Cedric Theodis Hobbs Jr. of first-degree murder in Harris' death.

    Hobbs, 33, was found guilty of first-degree murder by premeditation and deliberation with specific intent to kill, and by the felony murder rule. He also was found guilty of two armed robberies, two attempted robberies and conspiracy of armed robbery with co-defendant Alexis Mattocks.

    Jurors will hear additional testimony before deciding whether Hobbs is sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

    Harris was shot in the neck at Cumberland Pawn Shop on Grove Street on Nov. 6, 2010. He had been working weekends at the business to earn money to help out the family and to pay for his car and college expenses.

    Cheryl Harris, Naomh and Kyle Harris' mother, testified earlier Monday.

    "I just miss him so much," Cheryl Harris said. "I really miss him."

    The divorced, single mother of two surviving children has been a presence throughout the trial, her legs pumping nervously during testimony, and more often than not, a coat draped over her at her seat.

    "As a mother, I'm scared for my other two children,'' she said. "I'm scared I'll lose them, too. I'm scared how scared he was."

    She testified that she has been on anti-depressants since her divorce in 2008, but her reliance on the medication has accelerated since her son's death. "And, trust me," she said, "if I didn't have them, I don't know where I'd be."

    Kyle Harris was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 4. Twelve years later, he learned he was asthmatic.

    At the time of his murder, he was attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with plans of going to law school. He wanted to become a lawyer or an engineer.

    Cheryl Harris, Naomh and family friend Ruby Bullard gave jurors further insight into Harris' life. He was a kind-hearted, easy-going, laid-back individual, a give-his-shirt-off-his-back sort of person, they testified.

    "Kyle was just coming up to be who he was,'' his mother said.

    Detective Jason Sondergaard of the Fayetteville Police Department also testified. He was asked to verify a judgement entry from June 12, 1998, in Washington, D.C. It indicated Hobbs had been found guilty of armed robbery charges. The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation, Sondergaard said.

    The state concluded its presentation of evidence Monday and court was recessed until 9 a.m. Tuesday, when the defense is expected to present evidence. After that, the state and defense will have an opportunity to present final arguments.

    Hobbs also is suspected in the death of Rondriako Bennett, 22, of Thomson, Georgia.

    Mattocks, 23, of Washington, D.C., and Hobbs' fiance, pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder and conspiracy. She's serving a life sentence without parole in the Southern Correctional Institution for women in Troy.

    http://www.fayobserver.com/news/crim...2c985bfab.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  6. #16
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Cedric Hobbs Jr. gets life sentence in Kyle Harris murder

    The trial of convicted murderer Cedric Theodis Hobbs Jr. ended in a deadlock late this morning after a juror said his views on the death penalty had changed and he could no longer be objective in his decision.

    Because the 12-member jury reached an impasse, Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Robert Floyd Jr. sentenced Hobbs to life in prison without parole.

    Last week, the jury found Hobbs guilty of first-degree murder in the Nov. 6, 2010, shooting death of Kyle Harris. Jurors only needed about an hour to reach that verdict.

    But after deliberating for nearly three hours and 40 minutes over two days on whether to sentence the 33-year-old Hobbs to death or life in prison, the jury remained deadlocked. Eleven jurors favored death, according to two members of the jury and District Attorney Billy West, while the remaining juror told fellow jurors he could no longer fairly consider the death penalty.

    The jury's binding recommendation to the court must be unanimous.

    "He's got life without parole. I wanted him in isolation," said Cheryl Harris, 57, the mother of the slain 19-year-old Kyle Harris. "I was hoping for the death penalty because they would never kill him. You know this state's legal system. I just wanted him in isolation.

    "He's just going to live."

    Cheryl Harris attended the trial each day after it got underway with jury selection on Oct. 20. Family and friends testified the death of her youngest child has been devastating to her.

    Hobbs, who wore all black for the second straight day, was given the opportunity to speak before being taken into custody. Cheryl Harris turned away in her seat, refusing to make eye contact with the man who murdered her son.

    Standing, while facing the Harris family, Hobbs spoke in low tones, which was often hard to understand:

    "I apologize most to Mrs. Harris' family," he said during his statement. "I know they don't want to hear me talking. I know they probably think I'm just a monster without a heart who don't care. I can see they are good people. I can also put myself in that position because I would want restitution. Even though I know I don't deserve any type of sympathy, I ask for forgiveness from the family and everybody here that hates me right now."

    A couple of jurors, who had both served as foremen during the trial, later spoke of being frustrated with the outcome.

    "I feel like a loser. A total loser," Tony Flores, 57, said before heading for the elevator.

    "We could have had it done Wednesday. We had one person on the fence," said Joshua O'Hara, 30. "We wanted justice to be served for the family. I don't think it's right for him to watch his child (Storm, 4) grow from prison, and Mrs. Harris only live with memories and a tombstone."

    Though acknowledging the sentence as a victory for the defense, lawyer Lisa Miles was quick to add, "Everything's so sad. Sure, we're relieved, of course. We're sad for everybody."

    Just after 11 this morning, the jury first returned to the courtroom.

    O'Hara reported to the judge that jurors had been unable to reach a unanimous decision. Floyd told members they had a duty to reach a sentence and sent them back to continue efforts to reach a recommendation.

    About 10 minutes later, court was back in session. Floyd read a note passed from the jury that said juror No. 5 had changed his views on the death penalty.

    Floyd dismissed the jury and sentenced Hobbs to life in prison.

    The defendant, who had appeared apprehensive earlier, exhibited a vague sense of relief.

    In the jury box, one juror slumped forward, a hand pressed over his forehead. Another one, a woman on the back row, dabbed her moist eyes with tissue.

    "You're disappointed when you work on a case this hard and you don't get that final resolution," said West, the district attorney. "It was the first time in my career in trying many, many cases, a juror says, 'I cannot follow my oath anymore. I cannot consider the death penalty anymore.' That was unfortunate.

    "I think the defendant in this case was very fortunate that that kind of unorthodox thing happened during this process," West said. "I was disappointed we did not get the decision in the second (sentencing) phase, and the decision was interrupted by somebody not being able to fairly consider it."

    http://www.fayobserver.com/news/crim...2c213d9d4.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #17
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Yet another case where a lone juror, who lied during voir dire about his/her views on capital punishment, saves a murderer from a death sentence.

  8. #18
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    NC Supreme Court rules historically in jury race discrimination case

    The North Carolina Supreme Court made history yesterday in a jury discrimination case opinion by giving lower courts guidance for the 1st time about how to dig deeper and better assess claims of racial discrimination in jury selection.

    North Carolina appellate courts have never acknowledged race discrimination against jurors of color – it stands alone in that regard among southern states. In a 6-1 opinion written by Justice Anita Earls and released Friday, the high court sought to correct that by sending a Cumberland County murder case back down to the trial court for a proper Batson hearing.

    Batson v. Kentucky, where the term “Batson violation” comes from, is the case that set the modern rules for addressing racial discrimination in jury selection. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in that case that a prosecutor’s use of a peremptory challenge in a criminal case (the dismissal of jurors without reason) cannot be used to exclude jurors based solely on their race.

    In the recent case before the state Supreme Court, Cedric Hobbs Jr., an African-American man, appealed a trial court and state Court of Appeals’ ruling that he did not meet the evidence threshold in his capital case to prove 3 Batson violations.

    Background

    The jury pool for Mr. Hobbs’s capital trial was divided into panels of 12, which were called up in subsequent rounds of jury selection as the parties progressed through voir dire (the initial examination of potential jurors). Hobbs made his first Batson objection during the 3rd round of jury selection after the state excused jurors Brian Humphrey and Robert Layden, both of whom were black, according to the court opinion.

    “At the time of those strikes, the State had issued peremptory challenges against eight jurors, 2 of whom were non-Black and 6 of whom were Black,” the document states. “Of the 31 qualified jurors tendered to the State, the State had excused 2 out of 20 white jurors (10 %) and 6 out of 11 black jurors (54.5 %).”

    Hobbs established a “prima facie” Batson case by arguing the above facts, along with the fact that he was a Black male accused of robbing multiple white victims and murdering 1 white victim, the similarities between the answers provided by the excused Black jurors and the accepted non-Black jurors, and the history of racial discrimination in jury selection in the Cumberland County.

    A prima facie case is one made on first impression and is correct until proved otherwise. The trial court ruled at the time Hobbs didn’t make his prima facie discrimination case to meet the standard of law, but still asked the prosecutor for their reasons for excusing those jurors Hobbs objected to. The court ultimately agreed that those reasons were not based on race.

    Hobbs made another Batson claim during the fourth round of jury selection, but the court made the same decision in the end. The Court of Appeals upheld the rulings.

    The trial court erred, Earls wrote in the Supreme Court opinion, when it ruled Hobbs didn’t meet his prima facie showing of discrimination – that is supposed to be prong one of three in assessing a Batson claim, and the standard of law “is not intended to be a high hurdle for defendants to cross.”

    Earls goes into great detail outlining guidance for how a trial court is to proceed on that prong, and the two others, analysis of a state’s race-neutral reasons for striking a juror and pretext.

    “Neither the trial court nor the Court of Appeals appropriately considered all of the evidence necessary to determine whether Mr. Hobbs proved purposeful discrimination with respect to the state’s peremptory challenges of jurors Humphrey, Layden, and McNeill,” she wrote.

    Making history

    The attorney who represented Hobbs at the Supreme Court, Sterling Rozear, Assistant Appellate Defender at the North Carolina Office of the Appellate Defender, said this is the first time that court has granted this type of Batson relief in a published opinion.

    “I’m glad to have been able to bring Mr. Hobbs’ case to the Supreme Court’s attention, and I’m gratified the Court recognized that there were errors in the way his Batson claims were handled in the lower courts,” he said Friday in an email. At the time, he had not yet been able to contact Hobbs with the good news.

    The Supreme Court opinion orders Hobbs’ case back to the trial court for a hearing on the Batson claims and provides guidance on how the law should be applied. The lower court is also ordered to certify its findings back to the Supreme Court within 60 days “or within such time as the current state of emergency allows.”

    David Weiss, a staff attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, said the court didn’t quite go as far as wiping away the history of not upholding Batson challenges, but the opinion was, nevertheless, encouraging.

    “They got the message – they understood what we were telling them,” he said Friday. “It’s a good decision that puts in place stronger protections against race discrimination in jury selection.”

    In addition to clarifying that prima facie cases are meant to have a low bar when a defendant shows discrimination, the high court also brought guidance for lower courts in step with newer U.S. Supreme Court cases addressing Batson, which includes considering evidence that shows race is still at play when a prosecutor doesn’t strike a white juror for the same reason it struck a Black juror.

    James Coleman, a Duke Law Professor and scholar on race and the law, had filed a “friend of the court” brief in Hobbs’ case and another jury discrimination case heard by the high court at the same time (which has not yet been decided). He also was heartened by Friday’s opinion.

    This is an extraordinary decision; historic in light of how NC courts previously ignored the letter and spirit of the Batson v. Kentucky decision,” he said. “It ought to have the desired effect of prompting prosecutors to stop excluding Black citizens from criminal juries and justifying the discrimination with barely disguised pretextual explanations. At the same time, it ought to force trial judges to take this kind of discrimination seriously.”

    Justice Paul Newby, the only Republican on the high court, dissented from Friday’s opinion. He noted he believed the trial court already conducted the correct inquiry for a Batson challenge.

    (source: ncpolicywatch.org)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •