State v. Dixon, COA21-471, ___ N.C. App. ___ (Dec. 5, 2023)

In this Buncombe County case, defendant appealed his convictions for first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and malicious maiming, arguing error in overruling his Batson objection and denying his motions for mistrial. The Court of Appeals found no prejudicial error.  

During voir dire for defendant’s trial in June of 2019, the State used a peremptory strike on a black potential juror who expressed reservations about the death penalty. Defendant raised a Batson objection, and the trial court conducted the three-step analysis (this exchange is reproduced on pages 6-11 of the opinion). The trial court found that there had not been a sufficient showing of race as a motivating factor in the third step of the Batson analysis, overruling the objection. After the denial but during the trial, one of the State’s witnesses was killed. One juror learned of the killing through a press release issued by the DA’s office, and was excused for cause. Defendant moved for a mistrial, and the motion was denied. After the verdict, defendant learned another juror had heard of the killing, and moved for a mistrial again; the trial court denied this motion as well.  

Beginning with the Batson issue, the Court of Appeals explained the procedural requirements for a Batson objection as clarified by State v. Hobbs, 374 N.C. 345, 356 (2020). The court then turned to the scope of review, explaining “we base our analysis on a review of the whole record, engaging in a full, written analysis of all arguments raised by Defendant at trial.” Slip Op. at 19. The court considered and rejected defendant’s argument that striking jurors for their views on race was equivalent to striking jurors for their actual race, but noted that “to the extent Defendant offers [the juror’s] views about race and the views of the three stricken white jurors as context to support an allegation that the strike of [the juror] was pretextual, we consider his argument for that limited purpose.” Id. at 21. Moving to the actual Batson analysis, the court examined the questioning of white jurors along with the black juror who triggered the Batson objection. Although the court noted that “the case is close,” it could not establish clear error in denying the Batson objection, pointing out that the black juror who was struck shared many similarities with a white juror who was struck for her views on the death penalty. Id. at 32. 

Considering the motions for mistrial, the court could not find an abuse of discretion by the trial court in denying either motion. The court noted that the trial court issued a curative instruction about the use of cell phones, and that the juror in question for the second motion only saw a headline and did not express any issue with being fair and impartial. The court likewise rejected defendant’s argument that the trial court should have recused itself from the second mistrial motion, explaining the judge did not act as a witness on the question of whether the juror could perform his duties impartially. 

Chief Judge Stroud and Judge Zachary concurred in the result only.