Antonio Johnson v. Commonwealth of Kentucky

Summary

The court held that the Interstate Agreement on Detainers was not violated because Johnson sent his trial request to the wrong prosecuting official, and the trial court independently had good cause to continue the trial. It held that the Commonwealth failed to provide a sufficiently clear, reasonably specific, and race-neutral explanation for striking an African-American juror, requiring vacatur of the convictions and a new trial because the violation was structural. The court did not decide the prosecutor’s closing-argument claim in detail but identified statements that should not be repeated on retrial. Cunningham, J., dissenting, would have found the prosecutor’s explanation sufficient under the applicable deferential standard.