Published on: Sunday, December 6, 2020

The en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has vacated a divided panel's August 25, 2020 decision that a Kentucky prosecutor's striking of four Black veniremen did not violate Batson v. Kentucky. Specifically, because this is a habeas case, the decision vacates the panel's decision to affirm the district court's denial of Taylor’s §2254 petition that the Kentucky Supreme Court's holding to that effect was not an unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent.

Victor Taylor, a Black man sentenced to death for the murder of two White teenagers in 1984, was prosecuted in Jefferson County, Kentucky by the same prosecutor’s office  as  James  Batson.  Both  Black  defendants  alleged  that  their  prosecutor unconstitutionally struck jurors because of their race. The Supreme Court’s decision in Batson’s case provides a strict procedure to combat individual and institutional invidious racial discrimination in jury selection. That  process  was  not  followed  in  Taylor’s  case and is now restored as a pending appeal.

The case is Taylor v. Simpson , No. 14-6508 (6th Cir. Dec. 2, 2020).