Abdul Majid and Bashi Hameed v. Leonard A. Portuondo, Robert Kuhlmann, Docket Nos. 03-2608, 03-2610 (2d Cir. October 26, 2005)(Oakes, Kearse, Sack, op. by Sack). In a very long opinion that doesn’t really say much, the Court found no constitutional right to cross-examine witnesses at a Batson hearing.
In 1986, Majid and Hameed, represented by William Kunstler and our own Mark Gombiner, were convicted of murdering a New York City police officer. During jury selection, the prosecutor exercised perempetory challenges against twelve of the fifteen African-American members of the venire (and against two African-American alternates), and six of the thirty-six others. During the trial, the Supreme Court decided Batson v. Kentucky. On appeal, the defendants successfully argued that the prosecutor’s conduct raised an inference of purposeful discrimination, and the Appellate Division remitted the case to the trial court for a hearing.
The hearing took place in 1992, some six years …