U.S. v. Protho

In prosecution on kidnapping charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s challenge to prosecutor’s use of peremptory challenge to excuse two African-American jurors, under circumstances where resultant jury contained no African-American jurors. While defendant established prima facie case for Batson violation, defendant failed to show that prosecutor’s explanation for use of said challenges, i.e., that one juror was “too stoic” after hearing criminal allegations, and other juror had eyes closed during voir dire and seemed to have trouble hearing, were pretexts for race discrimination. Also, Dist. Ct. did not err in: (1) denying defendant’s motion to exclude testimony from three experts, where, according to defendant, government failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish that methods of testing and/or their conclusions were generally not accepted by scientific community; (2) allowing 12-year old victim to testify via closed-circuit television from another room within courthouse after victim attempted to take witness stand, but then broke down after seeing defendant and then left courtroom and collapsed in hallway; (3) denying defendant’s motion for mistrial after prosecutor stated during closing argument that he apologized for fact that victim did not want to be in same courtroom as defendant, where evidence overwhelmingly established defendant’s guilt; and (4) imposing $87,770 restitution order that included projected costs for victim for necessary medical and related professional services for psychiatric and psychological care over eight-year period of time.