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State v. Latour12/13/2005
The dispositive issue in this direct appeal is whether the denial of a defendant's request to exercise a peremptory challenge of a venireperson, who served solely as an alternate, can constitute an impropriety that requires a new trial in the absence of an analysis on the issue of harm. The defendant, Michael J. Latour, appeals from the trial court's judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, claiming that the trial court improperly denied his peremptory challenge of a venire-person and that the impropriety was a structural error requiring a new trial. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The record discloses the following facts and procedural history. The defendant was charged with the murder of Jenny McMechen in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a (a) and criminal possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a felony in violation of General Statutes § 53a-217 (a) (1). During the trial, although there were no eyewitnesses to the murder, the jury heard from several state's witnesses who, in their descriptions of the defendant's whereabouts on the night in question, placed him coming and going from the house where the victim was shot. Additionally, these witnesses testified that, when the defendant entered the house, he was in possession of a firearm, that they heard him call the victim's name, followed by gunshots, and that later that night and the next day he admitted to the shooting. The jury also learned that the defendant and the victim had been in a relationship for more than one year and that the victim was thirty-six weeks pregnant at the time of her death. The defendant presented no witnesses.
Following the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal on the criminal possession charge, the court found the defendant guilty of that charge. The jury then found the defendant guilty on the murder charge and, by special verdict, also found the defendant guilty of having used a firearm in the commission of that offense in violation of General Statutes § 53-202k. The trial court thereafter rendered judgment in accordance with the verdicts and imposed a total effective sentence of life imprisonment plus ten years. This appeal followed.
Because the sole issue on appeal concerns legal rulings made during the jury selection process, we highlight the following additional facts reflected in the record. Twelve jurors and four alternates ultimately were selected to serve on the defendant's jury. The advanced stage of the victim's pregnancy at the time of her death was a significant subject of voir dire. During the third day of jury selection, the state objected to the defendant's exercise of his eighth peremptory challenge, alleging that he unlawfully had been exercising his peremptory challenges with the intent of excluding women from serving on his jury in violation of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed. 2d 69 (1986), and J.E.B. v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 127, 114 S.Ct. 1419, 128 L.Ed. 2d 89 (1994). The state recited as part of its objection that, up to that point in time, the record reflected the following facts. On December 2, 2003, the first day of jury selection, three male jurors were impaneled; the state struck one prospective male juror, the defendant struck two prospective female jurors and the court excused one other prospective female juror for cause. On December 3, 2003, four jurors were impaneled, three males and one female; the state struck one prospective male juror, the defendant struck one prospective male juror and two prospective female jurors, and the court excused five prospective female jurors for cause. Subsequently, on December 4, 2003, three male jurors were impaneled; the state
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