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jurors .. .." 28 U.S.C. § 1863(a). Each district in New York selects grand and petit juries pursuant to a plan adopted by the judges of the district and approved by the Judicial Conference of the Second Circuit. Id.; see also United States v. Bahna, 68 F.3d 19, 23 (2d Cir. 1995). The plan for the Southern District has been in place since February 2009. See Amended Plan for the Random Selection of Grand and Petit Jurors in the Southern District of New York, available at https://www.nysd.uscourts.govisitesidefault/files/pdfijutyplatfeb_2009.pdf (the "SDNY Jury Plan," or the "Plan"). Under the terms of the SDNY Jury Plan, the initial selection of persons to be considered for service as grand and petit jurors are made at random from voter registration lists. SDNY Jury Plan at Art. III.A. Two Master Jury Wheels are constructed from these lists: one for the Manhattan courthouse and one for the White Plains courthouse. Id. at Art. III.B. The Manhattan Master Jury Wheel draws from voter lists from the following counties: New York, Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland. See id. at Art. III.C. The White Plains Master Jury Wheel draws from voter lists from the following counties: Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and Dutchess. See id. Both Master Jury Wheels are emptied and refilled no later than September 1 following the date of each Presidential Election. Id. at Art. III.B. To meet anticipated demand for jurors, names are drawn randomly from the Master Jury Wheels. Id. at Art. III.D. These individuals are sent a questionnaire to examine their qualifications and availability for jury service. Id. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1865(b), all persons are qualified for jury service unless he or she: (1) Is not a citizen of the United States at least eighteen years old who has resided for a period of one year within the judicial district; (2) Is unable to read, write, and understand English with a degree of proficiency sufficient to fill out the juror qualification questionnaire; 195 EFTA00095287
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(3) Is unable to speak English; (4) Is incapable, by mental or physical infirmity, to render satisfactory jury service; or (5) Has a charge pending for the commission of, or has been convicted in a State or Federal court, of a felony and his or her civil rights have not been restored. Id. at Art. VII. Additionally, certain persons are declared exempt from jury service, including active service members in the Armed Forces of the United States, members of fire or police departments, and public officers in the executive, legislative, or judicial branches of the State or Federal Government who are actively engaged in the performance of official duties. Id. at Art. V; 28 U.S.C. § 1863(b)(6). Finally, because jury service for certain groups of individuals would "entail undue hardship or extreme inconvenience," those individuals are excused or deferred upon individual request. SDNY Jury Plan at Art. VI. These groups include: (1) Persons over 70 years of age; (2) Persons having legal custody and active daily care of a child under the age of 12, or who are essential to the daily care of aged or infirm persons; (3) Persons who have satisfactorily served as grand or petit jurors in a State or Federal court within the last four years; (4) Volunteer safety personnel; and (5) Persons as to whom a judge finds, for any other reason, that jiffy service would constitute an undue hardship and extreme inconvenience. Id. The names of individuals who are determined to be qualified to serve as jurors, and are not "exempt, excused, or deferred," comprise the Qualified Jury Wheels—one for service at the Manhattan courthouse and one for service at the White Plains courthouse. Id., Art. IV.A-B. When jurors are needed, names are drawn randomly from the Qualified Jury Wheels, and summonses are sent to those whose names are drawn. Id., Art. IV.C. After being summoned, these individuals 196 EFTA00095288
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are randomly assigned to jury panels as needed, for individual trials and grand juries at the courthouse corresponding to the Qualified Wheel from which they were drawn. Id. B. Applicable Law "The Sixth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant a jury selected from a fair cross section of the community." United States v. Rioux, 97 F.3d 648, 654 (2d Cir. 1996). In Duren v. Missouri, the Supreme Court articulated a three part test that defendants must meet in order to establish a prima facie violation of the fair cross-section requirement: (1) the excluded group is "distinctive"; (2) "representation of this group in venires from which juries are selected is not fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such persons in the community;" and (3) the "underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion of the group in the jury-selection process." 439 U.S. 357, 364 (1979). C. Discussion The Government's decision to seek an indictment of the defendant from a grand jury sitting in White Plains was entirely appropriate and consistent with the Constitution, the JSSA, and the SDNY local rules. The defendant's claims to the contrary rest on a faulty premise: That a defendant who is likely to be tried in the Manhattan courthouse must be indicted by a grand jury sitting in that same courthouse. That is not the law. See infra Section XI.C.1. That foundational error is fatal to the defendant's fair cross-section claim. When the proper comparators are considered—the White Plains Master (or Qualified) Wheels to the voting age population of the counties from which juries in White Plains are drawn, rather than the defendant's apples-to-oranges comparison of the White Plains Qualified Jury Wheel to the population of the Manhattan "Division"—the defendant fails to establish unfair underrepresentation under the 197 EFTA00095289
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second prong of the Duren test. Moreover, the defendant has not established that any disparity resulted from systemic exclusion of a particular group. Accordingly, the motion should be denied. 1. The Defendant Was Properly Indicted by a Grand Jury Sifting in White Plains At the heart of the defendant's fair cross-section claim is her contention that the Government seeking an indictment from a grand jury sitting in White Plains—which was the only available grand jury that day, due to the global pandemic68—"was a deviation from the established practice of indicting defendants in the division where the offense is alleged to have occurred and where the case will be tried." (Def. Mot. 9 at 2). Because the offense is alleged to have occurred in the "Manhattan Division" and the defendant assumes that her jury trial will occur there too, she argues that the "appropriate comparison," for the purpose of her fair cross-section claim, "is 68 This case was indicted on June 29, 2020, on which date the grand jury sitting in White Plains was the only available grand jury in the District. Beginning on or about June 25, 2020, grand jury quorums returned in Manhattan, but with substantially less availability than before the pandemic. As a result, the Government has sought indictments from grand juries sitting in White Plains and Manhattan, as availability permits. In this instance, the Government was prepared to indict on June 29, 2020, and the only grand jury available in this District on that day sat in White Plains. The global pandemic's effect on grand jury availability continues to evolve, but at no point have grand juries in White Plains or Manhattan resumed normal activity. The defendant speculates that the Government sought an indictment on June 29, 2020 because of some arbitrary desire to arrest the defendant on July 2, 2020, one year to the day after a grand jury returned a sealed indictment charging Jeffrey Epstein with federal crimes on July 2, 2019. (See, e.g., Def. Mot. 9 at 1, 8). Setting aside the silliness of marking the anniversary of an indictment's return, as opposed to the anniversary of the arrest itself, which took place on July 6, 2019, there is no reality in the defense's conspiracy theories. As the defense knows full well, the Government attempted to locate and arrest the defendant on July 1, 2020 but was unable to confirm her location until obtaining cellphone location data identifying her location and enabling her arrest on July 2, 2020. The defense knows this because they have the warrant application that the Government submitted on July I, 2020 for the defendant's cellphone location information, in which the Government stated that it had been unable to confirm the defendant's location. In other words, the Government indicted the defendant as soon as it was prepared to present the evidence it had gathered to a grand jury, and the Government arrested the defendant as soon as it was able to locate her after obtaining that indictment. 198 EFTA00095290
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therefore between the Manhattan Division and the qualified wheel for White Plains." (Def. Mot.
9 at 6). This premise is faulty.
"It is well-settled that neither the jury selection statute nor the Constitution requires that
jurors be drawn from an entire district." Bahna, 68 F.3d at 24 (collecting cases); see also United
States v. Plaza-Andrades, 507 F. App'x 22, 26 (2d Cir. 2013) ("[O]ur precedent makes clear that
the Sixth Amendment does not entitle a defendant to be tried in a geographic location any more
specific than the District where the offense was allegedly committed."). Rather, "[c]ourts have
broad latitude in defining the geographic area from which juries will be selected." United States
v. Yonkers Contracting Co., Inc., 682 F. Supp. 757, 768 (S.D.N.Y. 1988). Consistent with the
foregoing, the SDNY Jury Plan creates two separate Master Wheels—one for the White Plains
courthouse and one for the Manhattan courthouse, each of which draws from certain counties, with
some overlapping counties. SDNY Jury Plan Art. III.B, III.C. This is perfectly consistent with
the JSSA, see 28 U.S.C. § 1869(e), and with longstanding precedent, as Judge Hand has explained:
[T]he district and circuit courts have had power since the first
Judiciary Act of 1789 to divide a district territorially in the interest
of an impartial trial, of economy, and of lessening the burden of
attendance.
There cannot be the faintest question of the
constitutionality of this statute; the courts have again and again
recognized its validity. Furthermore, it would be impossible in
practice to administer it, if it were a condition that that the divisions
made must be so homogeneous that they showed an equal
percentage of all possible groups. There are probably no districts in
the Union, which can be divided without disclosing in the sections
different racial, religious, political, social or economic percentages.
To demand that they shall not, would be a fantastic pedantry which
would serve no purpose and would put an end to the statute.
United States v. Gotrr•ied, 165 F.2d 360, 364 (2d Cir. 1948); accord Bahna, 68 F.3d at 24-25.
There is accordingly no constitutional or statutory basis for the defendant's claimed
entitlement to a grand jury drawn from the population of the same "division" in which the offense
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occurred and she assumes she will ultimately be tried. To the contrary, the Second Circuit has
rejected a similar claim. In Bahna, a defendant in the Eastern District of New York was initially
convicted at a trial held at the Brooklyn courthouse; after that conviction was vacated, he was
again convicted, this time at a trial held at the Uniondale courthouse. 68 F.3d at 20. Under the
relevant jury plan, jurors for trials held in Brooklyn were drawn from the entire Eastern District,
while jurors for trials held in the "Long Island Division," which included the Uniondale
courthouse, were drawn from Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Id. at 24. The defendant argued that
the district court erred by selecting the jury from the "Long Island Division" wheel because there
was under-representation of Blacks and Hispanics in that "division" as compared to the Eastern
District as a whole. Id. at 23-24. The Second Circuit rejected the argument, finding that it "[wa]s
based upon an improper premise." Id. at 24. Contrary to the defendant's claims, "[w]here a jury
venire is drawn from a properly designated division, we look to that division to see whether there
has been any unlawful or unconstitutional treatment of minorities." Id. (emphasis added).
Consistent with Bahna, courts have repeatedly found that defendants in criminal cases have
no constitutional or statutory right to a jury drawn from the entire district or from a particular
geographic area within a district, such as the county or "division" where the offense was
committed. See, e.g., Rutenberg v. United States, 245 U.S. 480, 482 (1918) (rejecting claim that
defendant had Sixth Amendment right to jury drawn from entire district); United States v. Miller,
116 F.3d 641, 659 (2d Cir. 1997) ("Th[e] [Sixth] Amendment's guarantees of an impartial jury 'of
the State and district' in which the crime was committed does not require a narrower geographical
focus than the district itself."); United States v. Richardson, 537 F.3d 951, 959 (8th Cir. 2008) (a
criminal defendant "does not have a right to have his trial in or jurors summoned from a particular
division of the state and district where the crime was committed"); United States v. Herbert, 698
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F.2d 981, 984 (9th Cir. 1983) (finding that "[a] petit July may be drawn constitutionally from only
one division and not the whole district"); Zicarelli v. Dietz, 633 F.2d 312, 318 (3d Cir. 1980)
("[Tjthere is no constitutional right to a jury chosen from the division where the offense was
committed or from the entire district which includes that division."); United States v. Florence,
456 F.2d 46, 49-50 (4th Cir. 1972) (holding that a defendant has no constitutional or statutory right
to a jury selected from the entire district or from a particular division).
Because the defendant has no right to insist that either the grand or petit jury be drawn from
any particular geographic area within the Southern District, she is wrong to assert that her fair
cross-section claim must be analyzed against the geographic location in which the offense was
committed or the trial is expected to occur. Rather, "[w]here a jury venire is drawn from a properly
designated division, we look to that division to see whether there has been any unlawful or
unconstitutional treatment of minorities." Bahna, 68 F.3d at 24 (emphasis added). Here,
consistent with the SDNY Grand Jury Plan, the venire for the grand July that indicted the defendant
was drawn from the voter lists of the following counties: Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange,
Sullivan, and Dutchess. That is undoubtedly a "properly designated division" pursuant to the
JSSA. As noted, the Southern District is not divided into "divisions" by statute. See 28 U.S.C.
§ 112(b). For purposes of the JSSA, district courts in such undivided districts have the authority
to determine "divisions" comprised of "counties, parishes, or similar political subdivisions
surrounding the places where court is held." 28 U.S.C. § 1869(e). Accordingly, while the SDNY
Jury Plan neither creates nor ever uses the term "White Plains Division" or "Manhattan Division,"
it contemplates Master Jury Wheels drawn from two geographic areas that satisfy the definition of
"division" under the JSSA. Thus, in evaluating the defendant's fair cross-section claim, this Court
must "look to that division"—the counties from which the White Plains Master Wheel is drawn-
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"to see whether there has been any unlawful or unconstitutional treatment of minorities." Bahna, 68 F.3d at 24 (emphasis added). In the face of this authority, the defendant cites only two district court cases for the proposition that "community" for purposes of a fair cross-section claim is "widely understood to mean the district or division where the trial will be held." (Def. Mot. 9 at 5 (emphasis added) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). Not only is the authority cited non-binding, but it is inapposite as well: both cases appear to concern instances in which the grand jury and trial jury sat in the same courthouse, and thus there was no cause to consider whether the same "community" was relevant to separate challenges to the grand and petit juries. See United States v. Johnson, 21 F. Supp. 2d 329, 334-35 (S.D.N.Y. 1998); United States v. Kenny, 883 F. Supp. 869, 874-75 (E.D.N.Y. 1995). As such, neither case supports the proposition that where a defendant is challenging the selection of the grand jury, the relevant "community" is the population of the location in which her trial will be held. Such a comparison is unjustified, as Bahna makes clear: That case appears to involve conduct that occurred in Brooklyn, appears to have been indicted in Brooklyn, was originally tried in Brooklyn, and was later transferred to Uniondale, where it was tried with a jury drawn from the "Long Island Division." Yet the Second Circuit rejected the defendant's claimed entitlement to a jury drawn from Kings, Queens and Richmond counties, or the entire Eastern District, because that argument—like the defendant's here—was based on a flawed premise. The defendant's proposed rule—comparing the composition of the grand jury venire to the population of the expected trial location—makes little legal or practical sense. Where, as here, the defendant's challenge is to the indictment, the proceeding for which the defendant is entitled to expect a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community is not the trial, but the grand 202 EFTA00095294
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jury proceeding itself. Indeed, that must be the case, as it is not yet determined where the trial in this matter will in fact occur. The defendant assumes that her trial will ultimately be held at the Manhattan courthouse. While that is likely to be the case, it is not necessarily so. Bahia again illustrates the point, as a case originally tried in Brooklyn was reassigned to Uniondale for the retrial "to accommodate trial congestion in the court's calendar during a period of judicial emergency . . . ." United States v. Soares, 66 F. Supp. 2d 391, 397 n.2 (E.D.N.Y. 1999). In the Southern District, cases are commonly transferred from one courthouse to another, including cases that are indicted in White Plains but tried in Manhattan. See supra Section XI.A.1 (collecting examples). That is entirely consistent not just with the foregoing authority, but also with the Southern District's Local Rules for the Division of Business. See SDNY Business Division Rules 18, 19. Criminal cases are also sometimes transferred to other Districts for trial. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 21. Under the defendant's approach, it would be impossible for prosecutors to determine es ante that that they were seeking an indictment from a grand jury drawn from a representative cross- section of the relevant community, because they would not yet know with certainty in which community the case will be tried. The defendant's argument therefore boils down to an unfounded complaint that it is "a deviation from the established practice" to seek an indictment in a courthouse other than the one in which the case will likely be tried. (Def. Mot. 9 at 2). This argument is inconsistent with the foregoing law that the defendant has no right to jurors drawn from any particular geographic area within the district. See also Rosencrans v. United States, 165 U.S. 257, 260-63 (1897) (finding no error in grand jury returning indictment in a division different from the division in which the trial proceeded). It also finds no succor in the SDNY Business Division Rules, which vest no rights in any parties and, in any event, contemplate that judges may reassign cases from one courthouse to 203 EFTA00095295
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another. And it falls exceedingly flat on the facts of this case. The Government did not forum shop to achieve some perceived advantage. Rather, it sought a timely indictment from a grand jury in White Plains because it was the only grand jury with a quorum sitting in the Southern District on that date (a relatively rare situation created by an unprecedented public health crisis). In sum, the decision to indict the defendant in White Plains was entirely proper, and the lack of any constitutional or statutory basis for the defendant's contrary argument is fatal to her fair cross-section claims, as described below. 2. The Defendant's Fair Cross-Section Claim Is Meritless The defendant's fair cross-section claim is based on the assertion that Black or African- American and Hispanic or Latino individuals are unfairly underrepresented in the relevant jury pool. (Def. Mot. 9 at 5). While these are "distinctive" groups, satisfying Duren's first prong, the defendant's claim fails on each of the other two prongs. a. The Defendant Has Not Established that Blacks or Hispanics Are Unfairly Represented The second prong of the Duren test requires the Court to determine whether representation of either or both of the "distinctive" groups in venires from which juries are selected is not fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such persons in the community. Duren, 439 U.S. at 364. This requires determining the relevant comparators—Le, what is the "relevant jury pool" and what is the community "population" against which it is compared—as well as the appropriate method of statistical comparison. See RiOUX, 97 F.3d at 656. Here, the defendant contends that the relevant jury pool is the White Plains Qualified Wheel. (Def. Mot. 9 at 5-6). The Government believes that the relevant jury pool is the White Plains Master Wheel, but, as set forth below, the defendant's claim fails even using the White Plains Qualified Wheel. 204 EFTA00095296
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"Neither the Supreme Court nor the Second Circuit has defined the `relevant jury pool' with any specificity." United States v. Rioux 930 F. Supp. 1558, 1565 (D. Conn. 1995). In a detailed survey of the case law, the district court in Rioux found that cases have examined different relevant pools, including the master wheel, the qualified wheel over a period of time, the venires appearing around the time of the defendant's trial, or some combination thereof. Id. Ultimately, the district court in Rioux found that the teaching of Duren and the Second Circuit's subsequent cases is that "the court must assess representativeness in the context of the systematic defect identified by the defendant." Id. at 1568. In that case, the claimed defects were in the construction of the qualified wheel and, therefore, the "relevant jury pool" was the "qualified wheel over the life of the wheel." Id. at 1575. Affirming that decision, the Second Circuit did not hold that the qualified wheel is necessarily the "relevant jury pool." Rather, after stating that the relevant jury pool "may be defined by: (1) the master list; (2) the qualified wheel; (3) the venires; or (4) a combination of the three," the Circuit noted that the parties had agreed that the district court properly used the qualified wheel over the life of the wheel as the "relevant jury pool." Rioux, 97 F.3d at 657. The court's acceptance of the qualified jury wheel as the "relevant jury pool" for that case—an issue which was not in dispute—does not mean it necessarily must be applied in all cases. Id. Indeed, in other cases where the claim of error was not focused on the construction of the qualified wheel, different "relevant jury pools" have been used by the Second Circuit. Most notably, in Biaggi, the main thrust of the defendant's fair cross-section claim was that reliance on voter registration lists systemically excluded African-Americans and Hispanics from jury service—a claim which is directed at the composition of the master wheel—and the Second Circuit identified the district's master wheel as the relevant jury pool. United States v. Biaggi, 909 F.2d 662, 677 (2d Cir. 1990). 205 EFTA00095297
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Here, the defendant claims that "the primary reason" for the alleged underrepresentation is
the Government's "choice to pursue an indictment from a grand jury drawn from the White Plains
Division, as opposed to the Manhattan Division . . . ." (Def. Mot. 9 at 7). Even if this argument
described a function of the jury selection process — though it does not — it would be directed at the
how the particular Master Wheel is selected. It says nothing about the process by which a Master
Wheel is reduced to the subset of qualified jurors contained in the Qualified Wheel. Because the
"systematic defect" alleged by the defendant relates to the Master Jury Wheel, the White Plains
Master Jury Wheel is the appropriate "relevant jury pool." Rioux, 930 F. Supp. at 1566-68.
Although the Master Jury Wheel does not include reliable information regarding the race
and ethnicity of the individuals selected from voter registration lists, the racial and ethnic makeup
of the White Plains Master Jury Wheel can be estimated using geocoding and Bayesian Improved
Surname Geocoding ("BISG") 69 Taking into account those estimates, the White Plains Master
Wheel is 11.20% Black or African-American and 12.97% Hispanic or Latino. (Siskin Aff. at
28). By contrast, the White Plains Qualified Wheel is 8.76% Black or African-American and
10.48% Hispanic or Latino. (Id. at ¶ 17).
The community population for purposes of assessing representativeness is the population
eligible for jury service in the community. See, e.g., Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 524 (1975)
(focusing on population eligible for jury service); Rioux, 97 F.3d at 657 ("We conclude that the
69 The defense motion references the expert report of an expert witness named Jeffrey O'Neal
Martin ("Martin Aft"), which was prepared for the defense in United States v. Balde, 20 Cr. 281
(KPF), where a similar motion is currently pending before Judge Failla. The Government is
likewise attaching the expert report of Dr. Bernard R. Siskin, which was prepared for the
Government in Balde. As detailed Dr. Skiskin's report, geocoding is based on estimating the
proportion of persons who are of a given race or ethnicity based on the racial and ethnic area in
which they live. (See Affidavit of Dr. Bernard R. Siskin ("Siskin Aff."), attached hereto as Exhibit
13, at ¶ 26). BISG enhances the accuracy of geocoding for Hispanic or Latino persons by using
information about persons' last names. (Id.).
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appropriate measure in this case is the eighteen and older subset of the population ...."). But how
should the relevant "community" be defined? The defendant contends that it is the jury eligible
population of the "Manhattan Division," because that is where the offense occurred and where she
assumes she will be tried. (Def. Mot. 9 at 6). As set forth above, she is wrong. The relevant
comparator is the jury eligible population of the five counties from which the White Plains Master
Wheel is drawn.
The American Community Survey ("ACS") 2018 data indicate that the jury eligible
population for the White Plains counties in 2018 was 12.45% Black or African-American and
14.12% Hispanic or Latino.70 (See Siskin Aff. at ¶ 19; see also Martin Aff. at ¶ 21).
Once the relevant comparators are defined, an additional threshold question is the statistical
method by which to compare them. Courts have applied different approaches over time, such as
the statistical decision theory, the comparative disparity theory, and the absolute disparity theory.
See Rioux, 97 F.3d at 655. Although no method is perfect, see Berghuis v. Smith, 559 U.S. 314,
329 (2010), the Second Circuit has made clear that the comparative disparity theory is disfavored
and strongly suggested that the absolute disparity theory is generally appropriate, see Rioux, 97
F.3d at 655-56; see also United States v. Barnes, 520 F. Supp. 2d 510, 514 (S.D.N.Y. 2007) ("[T]he
absolute disparity approach is the primary approach used in this Circuit.").
The "absolute disparity" approach measures the absolute numerical difference between the
distinctive group's representation in the community population and the group's representation in
the relevant jury pool. See Rioux, 97 F.3d at 655; United States v. Barlow, 732 F. Supp. 2d 1, 30-
31 (E.D.N.Y. 2010), gird 479 F. App'x 372, 373 (2d Cir. 2012). For example, if Blacks
70 The American Community Survey gathers demographic information in between the decennial
census, and is published by the United States Census Bureau. (See Siskin Aff. at ¶ 18). The latest
available data is the 2018 five-year survey combining the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 survey
data. (Id.).
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represented 10% of the community population but only 2% of the relevant jury pool, the "absolute disparity" would be 8%. There is no specific numerical threshold that constitutes unacceptable disparity under the "absolute disparity" method. "[P]erfectly proportional representation is not required, since no source list will be an exact statistical mirror of the community." United States v. Guzman, 337 F. Supp. 140, 143 (S.D.N.Y. 1972); see also Taylor, 419 U.S. at 538. The mere fact that a jury selection system is imperfect does not make it invalid. Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 209 (1965) (overruled on other grounds). Accordingly, the Second Circuit has found that absolute disparities as high as nearly 5% fail to establish a prima facie case of underrepresentation. See, e.g., Biaggi, 909 F.2d at 677-78 (3.6% for Blacks and 4.7% for Hispanics); United States v. Ramnath, 131 F.3d 132, 132 (2d Cir. 1997) (3.45% for African-Americans and 4.87% for Hispanics); see also Barlow, 732 F. Supp. 2d at 34-35 (collecting out-of-circuit cases rejecting claims presenting similar and even higher disparities).71 Properly calculated, the "absolute disparity" in this case falls comfortably within the range deemed acceptable by the Second Circuit and other courts. As noted, the "relevant jury pool" is the White Plains Master Wheel, which is comprised of 11.20% Black or African-American persons and 12.97% Latino or Hispanic persons. (Siskin Aff. at 128). The "community population" is the jury eligible population for the five counties from which the White Plains Master Wheel is drawn, 71 In United States v. Jackman, the Second Circuit held that an absolute disparity of 2.5% for Black or African-American persons and 3.4% for Hispanic or Latino persons was sufficient to satisfy the second prong of the Duren test. 46 F.3d 1240 (2d Cir. 1995). The unique facts of Jackman make it readily distinguishable. The jury clerk in Jaclanan relied on a qualified jury wheel that was mostly drawn from a master jury wheel that completely excluded potential jurors from two cities in the Division—cities that accounted for 62.93% of the voting-age Black population and 68.09% of the voting-age Hispanic population in the division. See id. at 1242-44. This resulted in a venire comprised of no Black or African-American persons and one Hispanic or Latino person. Id. at 1244. See also id. at 1252 (Walker, J., dissenting) (stating that the majority's decision was "at odds with every decision in every circuit applying the Duren test"). 208 EFTA00095300
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which was comprised of 12.45% Black or African-American persons and 14.12% Hispanic or Latino persons in 2018. (Id. at ¶ 19). This yields an "absolute disparity" of 1.25% for Black or African-American persons and 1.15% for Latino or Hispanic persons. (Id. at ¶ 28). That disparity does not rise to the level of satisfying the second prong of the Duren test. The result is the same even if the defendant's preferred relevant jury pool is used. The White Plains Qualified Wheel is comprised of 8.76% Black or African-American persons and 10.48% Latino or Hispanic persons. (Id. at ¶ 17; see also Martin Aff. at ¶ 55). This results in absolute disparities of 3.69% and 3.64%, respectively. These figures are also comfortably within the range that the Second Circuit has determined does not satisfy the second prong of the Duren test. Moreover, as discussed below, the factors that cause the disparity between the White Plains Qualified Wheel and the White Plains Master Jury Wheel, as well as the voting age population, are not the result of systematic exclusion. It is only by employing an apples-and-oranges method of comparing the White Plains Qualified Wheel to the jury eligible populations of the "Manhattan Division" or the entire Southern District that the defendant is able to identify disparities that might arguably satisfy the second prong of Duren. Because that method has no basis in the law, the defendant's claim fails at the second prong. b. Any Potential Underrepresentation Is Not Due to Systematic Exclusion Even assuming the defendant had satisfied the second prong of the Duren test—which she has not—she most certainly has not demonstrated that any underrepresentation is "due to systematic exclusion of the group in the juty-selection process." Rioux, 97 F.3d at 654 (emphasis added). That is, she cannot establish that the exclusion is the product of "the system of jury 209 EFTA00095301
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selection itself, rather than external forces." Id. at 658 (emphasis added). She therefore cannot satisfy the third prong of Duren. As then-District Judge Bianco explained, "systematic exclusion does not occur simply because a facially neutral disqualification criterion disproportionately impacts a particular group." Barlow, 732 F. Supp. 2d at 40; see also United States v. Barlow, 479 F. App'x 372, 373 (2d Cir. 2012) (affirming Judge Bianco's "thorough and well-reasoned" opinion). Indeed, "la] selection process that is facially neutral is unlikely to demonstrate systematic exclusion."' United States v. Savage, 970 F.3d 217, 259 (3d Cir. 2020) (brackets in original) (quoting Howell v. Superintendent Rockview SCI, 939 F.3d 260, 269 (2d Cir. 2019)). Moreover, a defendant cannot "make out a prima facie case merely by pointing to a host of factors that, individually or in combination, might contribute to a group's underrepresentation." Berghuis, 559 U.S. at 332 (emphasis in original). Insofar as the underrepresentation here is measured by a comparison of the White Plains Qualified Wheel to the jury eligible population of the "Manhattan Division" or entire Southern District, the defendant's argument rests entirely on the prosecution's decision to pursue an indictment in White Plains rather than Manhattan. (Def. Mot. 9 at 7). That decision was entirely proper, as set forth above. See supra Section XI.C.1 And even if it were the case that this decision resulted in substantial underrepresentation, it nevertheless does not amount to "systematic exclusion . . . in the filly-selection process." The prosecution's decision as to where to seek an indictment was based entirely on the availability of grand juries during a pandemic, which has nothing to do with the process by which the grand jury is selected. The defendant points to no other source of any supposed systemic exclusion of any identified group. Accordingly, the defendant's claim also fails at the third prong of Duren. 210 EFTA00095302
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CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, the Court should deny all twelve of the defendant's pre-trial motions. Dated: New York, New York February 26, 2021 Respectfully submitted, AUDREY STRAUSS United States Attorney By: Is Assistant United States Attorneys (212) 637-2225 211 EFTA00095303
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