Trawick v. Allen, 11th Cir. Mar. 18, 2008
07-11611 Trawick v. Allen
Before EDMONDSON, Chief Judge, BLACK and BARKETT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM: Jack Trawick appeals from the denial of his habeas corpus petition filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Trawick was convicted of capital murder in Alabama in 1994 and sentenced to death. Both the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed Trawick’s conviction and death sentence for the kidnaping and murder of Stephanie Gash, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trawick’s petition for a writ of certiorari. Trawick v. State, 698 So. 2d 151 (Ala. Crim. App. 1995); Ex parte Trawick, 698 So. 2d 162 (Ala. 1997); Trawick v. Alabama, 522 U.S. 1000 (1997). His Alabama Rule 32 petition was denied, and that denial was summarily affirmed on appeal. Trawick v. State, 854 So. 2d 1215 (Ala. Crim. App. 2002); Ex parte Trawick, 856 So. 2d 963 (Ala. 2002). Trawick then filed this federal habeas corpus petition, which the district court denied. This appeal followed.
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The only issue before us on appeal is whether Trawick is entitled to federal habeas relief on his claim that the State of Alabama exercised its peremptory strikes in a discriminatory manner by using eleven of its fourteen strikes to remove women from the venire in violation of J.E.B. v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 127 (1994), which prohibits gender discrimination in jury selection.1 Although Trawick did not raise any objection to gender-biased striking during trial, he did argue that claim on direct appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court on the basis of J.E.B., which the U.S. Supreme Court decided several weeks after Trawick’s conviction.2 The Alabama Supreme Court held that Trawick failed to establish a prima facie case of gender discrimination. …the district court opinion denying Trawick’s petition for habeas relief is AFFIRMED. Trawick v. Allen.
