• Oral Argument heard on February 23, 2009.
• Issue: Does a criminal defendant’s conviction need be automatically reversed when the court erroneously denied his preemptory challenge, which resulted in a challenged juror being seated?
• Background: Michael Rivera was charged with two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to 85 years of incarceration. At the defendant’s trial, he raised a preemptory challenge to a juror being seated, but the trial court dismissed that challenge when it, sua sponte, raised a challenge under Batson v. Kentucky. The lower court agreed, but did not hold that this was reversible error.