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Name: People v. Mata
Case #: B226256
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 2 DCA
Division: 1
Opinion Date: 02/23/2012
Subsequent History: Rev. granted 5/9/12 (S201413)
Summary

When a prosecutor’s peremptory challenge to a juror is overruled on the basis of Wheeler, the remedy of reseating the juror is only available with the consent of the defense. In this case, the Wheeler motion was granted and court ordered that the juror be reseated. A mistrial and dismissal of the remaining voir dire is the typical remedy once the court has found that a prosecutor exercised peremptory challenges on the basis of group bias. There are discretionary alternatives, with the consent or waiver by the complaining party, such as assessment of sanctions against the prosecutor who exhibited bias; allowance of additional peremptory challenges to the innocent party; or, the reseating of the juror. In this case the defense did not agree to the alternative of a mistrial and the resulting judgment was reversed.