Supreme Court of Florida

State of Florida v. John Pacchiana

January 9, 2020289 So. 3d 857

Summary

The Court held that the defendant failed to preserve a constitutional objection to the State’s religion-based peremptory strike because counsel initially objected only on racial grounds and did not clearly object on religious grounds when the strike was exercised. The Court therefore quashed the district court’s decision and remanded for further proceedings without reaching whether religion-based peremptory strikes are constitutionally impermissible.