JON P. McCALLA, District Judge.
Samuel Keenan Carter, U.S. Attorney's Office, Memphis, TN, for Plaintiff.
ORDER FINDING NO BATSON VIOLATION
JON P. McCALLA, District Judge.
Before the Court is the Mandate of the Sixth Circuit as to its disposition rendered on August 20, 2014. (ECF No. 89.) The Sixth Circuit instructed this Court to “hold a Batson hearing and make findings on whether Tomlinson established the existence of purposeful race discrimination in the selection of his jury that warrants reversal of his conviction.” United States v. Tomlinson, 764 F.3d 535, 539 (6th Cir.2014). For the reasons stated below, the Court finds that Tomlinson has failed to establish the existence of purposeful race discrimination.
I. BACKGROUND
A. Procedural Background
A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Defendant Tomlinson with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) on June 26, 2012. (ECF No. 2.) Tomlinson elected to go to trial, which commenced on January 22, 2013. (See ECF No. 45.) During voir dire, there were four rounds of peremptory challenges before the jury was empaneled. (ECF No. 75 at 172–173, 225–26, 275, and 288.) The Government used three strikes and the defendant used five strikes in the first round. (Id. at 173.) During the second round of strikes, the Government did not use any of its strikes and the defendant used four more strikes. (Id. at 226.) The third round consisted of two strikes by the Government and one strike by Defendant. (Id. at 275.) Finally, each side used one strike in the fourth and final round. (Id. at 288.) Tomlinson then made a Batson objection as to the Government's final strike as well as its previous strikes, stating, “I think all of the strikes by the Government were African–Americans, and this last one is also an African–American.” (Id.) The Court found that the Batson objections as to the Government's first five strikes had been waived, and overruled Defendant's objection as to the final strike. (See id. at 294–98.) The final composition of the jury included seven black jurors, two of whom served as alternates. The jury convicted Tomlinson on January 25, 2013. (ECF No. 57.)
Tomlinson appealed his conviction on May 8, 2013. (ECF No. 66.) The Sixth Circuit reversed this Court's ruling that Tomlinson had waived his right to bring Batson challenges with respect to the Government's first five peremptory strikes. 764 F.3d at 536.
The Government filed its Batson brief in this Court in light of the Sixth Circuit's ruling on December 9, 2014. (ECF No. 92.) Tomlinson filed his responsive briefing on January 27, 2015, and moved the Court to vacate his conviction. (ECF No. 99.)
The Court held three hearings to reconsider the Government's peremptory challenges in light of the Sixth Circuit's opinion. (ECF Nos. 96, 102, and 104.)
B. Factual Background
1. The First Round of Jurors
The jury panel entered the courtroom for voir dire in the trial of Christopher Tomlinson at 9:37 a.m. on January 22, 2013. (Voir Dire Tr. 3, ECF No. 75 (sealed).) Fourteen jurors were initially called: [Juror # 1], [Juror # 2], [Juror # 3], [Juror # 4], [Juror # 5], [Juror # 6], [Juror # 7], [Juror # 8], [Juror # 9], [Juror # 10], [Juror # 11], [Juror # 12], [Juror # 13], and [Juror # 14].
The Court asked two questions, which each juror was asked to answer with a different response than each juror before. (See id. at 3–22.) Each juror was able to hear each prior juror's response, which also provided every juror an opportunity to learn as voir dire proceeded. The Court's questions were: (1) “[W]hat do you think is the most important characteristic for a person who is going to serve on the jury[?]” (id. at 4); and (2) “What is an example of a characteristic as to which people sometimes have a bias or prejudice?” (id. at 10). Each juror's answer is summarized in the tables below: