Reversing the district court’s denial of a habeas petition and remanding, the appellate court held that under Johnson v. California and Miller-El v. Dretke, the petitioner’s showing of statistical disparity in peremptory challenges to remove African-Americans from his jury gave rise to an inference of purposeful discrimination and established a prima facie case of an equal protection violation under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). The panel held that the record did not disclose a refutation of the inference of bias, and that refutation of the inference required more than a determination that the record could have supported race-neutral reasons for the prosecutor’s use of his peremptory challenges on prospective African-American jurors.