Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
Benito Guzman, Appellant v. the State of Texas
May 22, 20022002 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 107
Summary
The Court adopted the dual‑motivation (mixed‑motives) analysis for Batson challenges, holding that a peremptory strike motivated by both an impermissible factor and permissible reasons does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment if the State shows it would have struck the juror absent the improper motive, and it reversed the Court of Appeals, remanding for further determination of whether the prosecutor would have struck juror 17 regardless of gender. Justice WOMACK, dissenting, and Justice JOHNSON, dissenting, argued that any discriminatory motive should invalidate the strike and would have required a new trial.