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Appeals court hears Batson and extraneous‑information arguments in Rentala case
Summary
Appellant counsel argued the trial judge erred by allowing a peremptory strike the defense says masked gender bias and that jurors learned prejudicial extraneous information, while the Commonwealth defended the judge’s factual findings and juror colloquies; the panel submitted the case after questioning both sides.
A three‑judge panel of the Massachusetts Appeals Court heard oral argument Dec. 4 in Commonwealth v. Rentala, where defense counsel Melissa Ramos urged that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing a peremptory strike the defense says was a pretext for gender discrimination and that jurors were exposed to extraneous information so prejudicial a mistrial was required.
Ramos told the court the core of her Batson argument is that ‘‘each individual juror has the right to be evaluated in a nondiscriminatory way’’ and that the prosecutor’s stated reason — the juror’s…
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