State v. Jones

Summary

A trial court's good-faith error in allowing the state to exercise a peremptory challenge out of sequence is not structural error but trial error subject to harmless-error review. Peremptory challenges are statutory, not constitutional, so such errors do not require automatic reversal. The state bears the burden of proving harmlessness, and the error was harmless here given overwhelming evidence. This holding resolves a certified conflict between Ohio appellate districts.

Holdings

1. A good-faith error in allowing the state to exercise a peremptory challenge out of sequence is not structural error but rather is trial error and subject to harmless-error review.
2. The state bears the burden on harmless-error review to show that the error did not affect the outcome of the trial. The court of appeals erred by shifting the burden to the defendant.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a trial court's good-faith error in allowing the state to exercise a peremptory challenge out of sequence constitutes structural error requiring automatic reversal, or is subject to harmless-error review.

Disposition

affirmed