IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA No. 20–1551 Submitted January 19, 2023—Filed April 21, 2023 STATE OF IOWA, Appellee, vs. PATRICK HENRY BOOKER JR., Appellant. On review from the Iowa Court of Appeals. Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Monica L. Zrinyi Wittig, Judge. The defendant seeks further review of the court of appeals opinion affirming his conviction for sexual abuse in the third degree and his life sentence, challenging the denial of his Batson claim. DECISION OF COURT OF APPEALS AFFIRMED IN PART AND VACATED IN PART; DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT OF CONVICTION AFFIRMED, SENTENCE VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED. Oxley, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which all participating justices joined. Mansfield, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Christensen, C.J., and McDermott, J., joined. May, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. 2 Martha J. Lucey (argued), State Appellate Defender, and Stephan J. Japuntich (until withdrawal), for appellant. Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Sheryl Soich (argued), Assistant Attorney General, for appellee. 3 OXLEY, Justice. We are asked to decide whether the prosecutor engaged in purposeful discrimination during jury selection in Patrick Booker’s trial for sexual abuse in the third degree when he used a peremptory strike to remove a Black venire member. Upon our review of the record, we conclude the strike was not motivated in substantial part by discriminatory intent—the relevant standard under federal law. The strike at issue here was justified by a valid nonracial basis. The stricken juror expressed his opinion that “both parties” were to blame in describing the sexual assault that landed his cousin in prison for fifty years in a scenario factually similar to the case about to be tried. A prosecutor could have logically been concerned the juror would form a similar opinion about the victim when presented with the facts of this case. The prosecutor’s stated concern about the juror’s opinion was, at least in this context, a valid, nonracial basis for the peremptory strike. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. The defendant, Patrick Henry Booker Jr. (who is Black), was charged by criminal complaint on May 30, 2019, with first-degree kidnapping and third- degree sexual abuse as a second or subsequent offender. The charges were based on an incident that occurred at the Dubuque home of C.H. in the late-night to early-morning hours of April 14–15, 2018. C.H. invited (among others) Booker and Andy Cheeks to her home to attend a “tattoo party.” As C.H. described, this is an event where “people c[a]me to [her] house to get tattoos or piercings.” Booker performed piercings at the party. C.H. planned 4 to have group sex with Booker and Cheeks after the party. When the party ended, Booker began to insist that C.H. have sex with his brother as well; she became uncomfortable and attempted to leave the group. Booker then slammed C.H.’s head against a wall and made her stand by an open window, letting in cold air “for approximately 5 …
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