The United States Supreme Court issued an extraordinary win today on a Batson claim in Foster v. Chatman, No. 14-8349.  Congratulations to our colleagues at the Southern Center for Human Rights for their hard work and perseverance! The case arises out of Rome, Georgia where a very sympathetic victim was murdered and sexually assaulted.  Foster was quickly arrested and charged with her murder.  It was a death penalty case.  During jury selection, 42 potential venire persons were qualified.  Of these, 5 were African-American.  After one African-American was removed due to her relationship with one of the parties, 4 remained.   The State had 10 peremptory challenges at its disposal; defense had 20.  The State used 9 of 10 of its strikes, and removed all four African-Americans. Extraordinary Victory continued… by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esquire