IN THE FIFTIETH JUDICIAL DISTRICT, PARISH OF PEINE DE MORT
STATE OF LOUISIANA
No. _____

=================================

STATE OF LOUISIANA, Plaintiff
v.
JOHN CLIENT, Defendant

=================================

MOTION TO PRECLUDE THE STATE FROM USING
PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES TO EXCLUDE POTENTIAL
JURORS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR GENDER

COMES NOW, JOHN CLIENT, by counsel, and moves this Court pursuant to the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and Article 1, Sections 2, 3, 5, 13, 14, 16 & 17 of the Louisiana Constitution to preclude the State from exercising peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors on the basis of their gender.

1. In Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S. Ct. 692, 42 L. Ed. 2d 690 (1975), the Supreme Court established both the Sixth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendments may be violated by the exclusion of women from the justice system. This rule has explicitly been applied to discrimination in jury selection by the abuse of peremptory challenges. See J.E.B. v. Alabama, 114 S. Ct. 1419, 128 L. Ed. 2d 89 (1994); United States v. DeGross, 960 F.2d 1433 (9th Cir. 1992) (unconstitutional to strike on the basis of sex).
2. Indeed, as is set forth in greater detail in other motions (and incorporated herein by reference), Mr. Client has a fundamental right to be tried and sentenced by a fair and impartial jury which is representative of a fair cross section of the community under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I of the Louisiana Constitution. See, e.g., Turner v. Murray, 476 U.S. 28, 106 S. Ct. 1683, 90 L. Ed. 2d 27 (1986); Ristiano v. Ross, 424 U.S. 589, 595 n.6, 96 S. Ct. 1017, 47 L. Ed. 2d 258 (1976); Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 722, 81 S. Ct. 1639, 6 L. Ed. 2d 751 (1961).
WHEREFORE, Mr. Client respectfully moves this Court enjoin the State from excluding jurors on the basis of their sex.
??

(..continued)