P. v. Vale
Defendant Jesse John Vale was convicted, by jury trial, of carjacking (Pen. Code, § 215)[1] and second degree robbery (§§ 211, 212.5, subd. (c)). He admitted that he had four prior convictions that qualified as strikes (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12), that he had three prior serious felony convictions (§ 667, subd. (a)), and that he had served a prior prison term (§ 667.5, subd. (a)). He was sentenced to an aggregate prison term of 42 years to life for the carjacking, with a concurrent aggregate term of 40 years to life for the robbery.
On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erroneously denied his Batson/Wheeler motion, which contested the prosecutor’s use of peremptory challenges to remove two prospective jurors with Hispanic surnames. (See Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79 (Batson); People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 (Wheeler).) For the reasons stated below, we disagree with defendant’s claim and will, therefore, affirm the judgment.
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