Michael Sockwell v. Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections (141 F.4th 1231, 2025)

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 1 of 62 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 23-13321 ____________________ MICHAEL SOCKWELL, Petitioner-Appellant, versus COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Defendant-Appellee. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 2:13-cv-00913-WKW-KFP ____________________ USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 2 of 62 2 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 Before LUCK, ABUDU, and WILSON, Circuit Judges. WILSON, Circuit Judge: Michael Sockwell was convicted of murder for pecuniary gain and sentenced to death by the State of Alabama. Sockwell ap- peals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for the writ of habeas corpus challenging his conviction.

We hold that the Alabama Supreme Court unreasonably applied clearly estab- lished federal law as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. We also hold that Alabama violated Sockwell’s Fourteenth Amendment equal protection rights under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), by using its peremptory strikes in a discriminatory manner. Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s ruling and direct the district court to issue a writ of habeas corpus conditioned on Alabama’s right to retry Sockwell. I. Factual Background In March 1988, Isaiah Harris, a sheriff in Montgomery County, was killed on his way into work. Harris’ wife, Louise, was having an affair with Lorenzo McCarter. Louise asked McCarter to find someone to kill Harris so that she could obtain insurance benefit proceeds. McCarter recruited Sockwell and Alex Hood to kill Harris for $100 and promised to pay more money upon com- pletion of the murder.

On the night of the murder, McCarter, Hood, Freddie Peter- son, and Sockwell were drinking together. According to Peterson, they left Hood’s house to go to the Harrises’ subdivision and waited until they received a message on a pager saying, “He’s USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 3 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 3 leaving now.” According to Peterson, Sockwell then took a shot- gun and got out of the car near a stop sign, and McCarter drove to a parking lot to wait. No one saw Sockwell shoot Harris, but when he returned to the car, Sockwell suggested that he would get his money. Sockwell testified that McCarter shot Harris, and that he did not know that McCarter planned to kill Harris. Sockwell testi- fied that he did not receive any money to kill Harris, but that he had been given $50 for fixing a car.

II. Jury Trial In 1988, an Alabama grand jury indicted Sockwell for capital murder of Harris on the ground that Sockwell committed the mur- der for pecuniary gain. Sockwell pleaded not guilty, and the case went to trial in Montgomery County in 1990. In the venire, there were fifty-five potential jurors. Of the fifty-five potential jurors, fourteen were Black.1 Relevant to this appeal, the state trial court asked each juror how much they had heard about the case and then whether the juror could impose the death penalty. After voir dire, thirteen potential jurors were struck for cause, leaving forty-two potential jurors. Ten of those remaining 1 The capitalization of Black when referring “to Black people and often espe- cially to African American people or their culture” is “now widely established” in dictionaries and style guides. See, e.g., Black, Merriam-Webster.com, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black; see also The Chicago Manual of Style ¶ 8.38 (17th ed. 2017).

(“Black is increasingly capitalized when referring to racial or ethnic identity.”); Assoc. Press, Explaining AP Style on Black and White (July 20, 2020), https://apnews.com/article/archive-race-and-eth- nicity-9105661462. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 4 of 62 4 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 jurors were Black. Each side had fifteen preemptory strikes. Assis- tant District Attorney Ellen Brooks struck seven of the thirty-two remaining white jurors and eight of the ten remaining Black jurors. Sockwell raised a Batson challenge and explained that the State, via Brooks, used “over fifty percent of their strikes to strike [B]lacks” and “in effect, struck eighty percent of all [B]lacks on the venire.” Brooks then provided her reasons for striking the jurors, with most of her answers relating to the jurors’ positions on the death penalty or their exposure to pretrial publicity.

The focus of Sockwell’s Batson challenge was on the striking of Eric Davis, a Black male. During his individual voir dire, the state trial court asked THE COURT: Have you heard or read from any source anything about these circumstances that we’re here today on? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: I’ve heard a little something. THE COURT: Okay. Have you heard or read or from any other source gained any information as to whether or not this defendant was guilty or not? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Now, I had heard something. THE COURT: You haven’t? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: I had heard some- thing. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 5 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 5 THE COURT: What did you hear and where was it from? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Oh, I just, um, it was something in the newspaper or something. THE COURT: Well, what did you hear in the news- paper or read in the newspaper?

PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Well, I just, you know, just heard talk about what they heard in the newspaper or something like that. I didn’t read it for myself. THE COURT: From somebody you heard? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Um-hum, yes. THE COURT: When did you hear that? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: It was a while back. THE COURT: About how long ago? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Several months ago. THE COURT: Several months ago. Did you hear spe- cifically about this defendant right here? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: No. THE COURT: Okay. Do you remember what you heard? USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 6 of 62 6 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Not exactly. THE COURT: Can you remember it for me the best you can? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Um, the only thing I recall is just, you know, um, listening at some of the guys, you know that said they had read about it, you know, the incident out on Troy Highway, stuff like that, you know, what had happened and so forth, you know.

THE COURT: Okay. Do you feel like you’d be able to put aside whatever you heard some of the guys say about what they had read and listen to the facts as they come to you in Court and based on the facts and those alone make a fair, honest, conscientious impar- tial decision on guilt and non guilt based on those facts and the law instructed by the Court? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Yes, I can. After this exchange, the court asked about Davis’ view of the death penalty: THE COURT: Because this is a capital case if we were to reach a sentencing stage the possible punishments on a capital offense are life imprisonment without pa- role and the death penalty, so I need to ask you some questions concerning this matter if we were to get to the sentencing stage. Are you opposed to the death penalty under any circumstances? USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 7 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 7 PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: No.

THE COURT: Okay. Are you for the death penalty in all circumstances? PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Well, it could go ei- ther way. THE COURT: Okay. You think you could follow your oath and listen to the instructions of the Court and – PROSPECTIVE JUROR [DAVIS]: Yes, sir. Fair enough to listen to the trial and then come up with a verdict. THE COURT: Okay. Thank you. When considering Sockwell’s Batson motion after voir dire, the state trial court asked Brooks to explain why she chose to strike the fifteen jurors that she did. As it relates to Davis, Brooks stated that Davis “was extremely vague to the Court’s questions about what he had heard” about pretrial publicity. Brooks explained that Davis could not remember what he heard. After this, Sockwell sought to obtain Brooks’ notes and questionnaires that she referred to when answering the trial court’s questions.

The state trial court denied that request but allowed Sockwell to keep questioning Brooks about the strike, in which she stated: Davis, according to my notes, is a [B]lack male, ap- proximately twenty-three years of age, which would put him very close to the same race, sex, and age of USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 8 of 62 8 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 the defendant. He had said to the Court that he heard a little something. The Court questioned him further and he finally said well, I heard it from the paper or something. The Court questioned him further. He was very vague and unclear in his answer. The Court asked him more about it and he said well, some peo- ple were talking about it. I didn’t actually read it. He could not remember what had been said nor anything about -- anything further about those.

His answer to the death penalty did not give me a lot of clues either way as to how he felt. In fact, I think the words he used were I could go either way. Sockwell asked Brooks if there were white jurors that she did not strike who had heard something about the case but did not really remember what they heard. Brooks said she would not char- acterize what was said by other jurors that way. After brief argu- ment from Sockwell, the state trial court denied the Batson motion. Before trial, Sockwell renewed his Batson challenge and ex- plained that [Brooks] gave no reason, no [articulable] reason, and I submit to you that she can give no reason. . . . And I also call to the Court’s attention the fact that on the news last night Mr. McPhillips says that this prosecu- tor, in the last case she tried, in Sims, used fourteen of her strikes in the same fashion. . . .

[W]e’ve got a pat- tern and practice by the D.A.’s office of excluding [B]lacks for reasons like chewing gum, not dressing properly and being in the wrong neighborhood. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 9 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 9 The state trial court again denied the motion. The jury found Sockwell guilty and recommended a sen- tence of life imprisonment by a vote of seven to five. But the judge overrode the recommendation and imposed the death penalty. III. Procedural History Sockwell appealed to the Alabama Court of Criminal Ap- peals (ACCA), which affirmed Sockwell’s conviction and death sen- tence. Relevant to this appeal, the ACCA found that the state trial court’s denial of the Batson motion was not clearly erroneous. Sock- well v. State, 675 So. 2d 4, 20 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993). The ACCA explained that Davis’ “race was part of the reason for striking him” but that Davis’ vague responses as “to what information about the case and from where he had received information about the case, is a sufficiently race-neutral reason for a peremptory challenge.” Id.

Sockwell appealed. A divided Alabama Supreme Court af- firmed the ACCA—holding its conclusion about Sockwell’s Batson challenge was correct but “its rationale was not.” Ex parte Sockwell, 675 So. 2d 38, 41 (Ala. 1995). The court explained it did not agree with the ACCA “that the prosecutor’s opening remark identifying [Davis] as a [B]lack man was given as a reason for striking him from the venire.” Id. at 40. Instead, in the “context of the entire ex- change,” the prosecutor’s identification of Davis as a Black male “was merely a descriptive identification of the veniremember based on the prosecutor’s notes.” Id. “When the prosecutor gave the reasons for striking a veniremember, either white or [B]lack, USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 10 of 62 10 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 she first prefaced her remarks by stating the venire member’s race and sex.” Id.

The court found that “[t]he only reasons the prosecutor gave for striking [Davis] were his vagueness and lack of candor in stating what he had already heard about the trial, from what source he has gotten this information, and whether he could be willing to recom- mend the death penalty.” Id. The court specifically disagreed with the ACCA’s logic that “a non-race-neutral reason given for a per- emptory strike [would] ‘cancel out’ a race-based reason.” Id. at 41. Instead, the Alabama Supreme Court held that “the mere mention of race . . . does not necessarily establish that a peremptory strike was based on a racially motivated reason and was the product of purposeful discrimination.” Id. In December 2013, Sockwell filed his habeas petition in the Middle District of Alabama, asserting his Batson claim. Ten years later, the district court denied Sockwell’s request for relief.

Sockwell v. Hamm, No. 2:13-CV-913-WKW, 2023 WL 6377645, at *1 (M.D. Ala. Sept. 29, 2023). The court found the strike of Davis “problem- atic” but noted that the Alabama Supreme court could reasonably conclude that Brooks’ “racial comparison was incidental, surplus- age, or simply an extemporaneous, if ill-advised, descriptive obser- vation that Davis and [Sockwell] were of the same race, sex, and age, but that this observation conveyed no particular animus to- ward any of those traits.” Id. at *18. The court also found that nothing in the Alabama Supreme Court’s opinion showed that it had not considered all relevant circumstances, and the Alabama USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 11 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 11 Supreme Court did not unreasonably apply Batson’s third step. Id. at *19–24. Because Sockwell made a substantial showing of the de- nial of a constitutional right, the district court granted a certificate of appealability as to whether Alabama exercised its peremptory challenge of Davis in a racially discriminatory manner.

Id. at *49. Sockwell timely appealed. IV. Standard of Review The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) governs our review of the Alabama Supreme Court’s Bat- son analysis. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254. AEDPA generally establishes a “highly deferential” standard for reviewing a state court’s Batson rulings. Lee v. Comm’r, Ala. Dep’t of Corr., 726 F.3d 1172, 1192, 1207 (11th Cir. 2013). “If we determine that AEDPA deference does not apply [to the state court’s Batson analysis], we must undertake a de novo re- view of the claim.” Adkins v. Warden, Holman CF, 710 F.3d 1241, 1250 (11th Cir. 2013). V. Applicable Law In Batson, the Supreme Court ruled that “the Equal Protec- tion Clause forbids the prosecutor [from] challeng[ing] potential ju- rors solely on account of their race or on the assumption that [B]lack jurors as a group will be unable impartially to consider the State’s case against a [B]lack defendant.” 476 U.S. at 89.

Batson “stressed a basic equal protection point: In the eyes of the Consti- tution, one racially discriminatory peremptory strike is one too USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 12 of 62 12 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 many.”2 Flowers v. Mississippi, 588 U.S. 284, 298 (2019). Batson, de- cided in 1986, was established federal law at the time of Sockwell’s trial in 1988 and when the Alabama Supreme Court decided Sock- well’s direct appeal in 1995. Batson established a three-step inquiry to evaluate the pros- ecutor’s use of peremptory strikes: First, a defendant must make a prima facie showing that a peremptory challenge has been exercised on the basis of race. Second, if that showing has been made, the prosecution must offer a race-neutral basis for striking the juror in question. Third, in light of the parties’ submissions, the trial court must deter- mine whether the defendant has shown purposeful discrimination.

Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 328–29 (2003) (Miller-El I) (citing Batson, 476 U.S. at 96–98) (internal citations omitted). Neither party disputes that Sockwell made a prima facie case that the peremptory strike on Davis was based on race. Instead, the parties dispute the Alabama Supreme Court’s determinations on Batson’s second and third steps. We address each step in turn. 2 We have also emphasized that under Batson venire members “are entitled not to be struck for racial reasons, and [B]lack defendants are entitled to be tried in a system free of racially exclusionary practices.” United States v. David, 803 F.2d 1567, 1571 (11th Cir. 1986). USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 13 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 13 VI. Batson’s Second Step Sockwell argues that the Alabama Supreme Court made an unreasonable determination of fact under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2) by finding that (1) the comparison between Sockwell and Davis was merely descriptive and (2)

Brooks gave a race-neutral reason for striking Davis. Sockwell asserts that Brooks’ statement that “Davis, according to my notes is a [B]lack male, approximately 23 years of age, which would put him very close to the same race, sex and age of the defendant” is an explicitly racial reason for striking Davis. A state habeas court’s findings of fact are presumed to be correct and the petitioner bears “the burden of rebutting the pre- sumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). “Even if the state court made a clearly errone- ous factual determination, that doesn’t necessarily mean the state court’s ‘decision’ was ‘based on’ an ‘unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court pro- ceeding.’” Pye v. Warden, Ga. Diagnostic Prison, 50 F.4th 1025, 1035 (11th Cir. 2022) (en banc) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2)). “De- pending on the importance of the factual error to the state court’s ultimate decision, that decision might still be reasonable.” Id.

(in- ternal quotation marks omitted). Batson’s first and second steps “govern the production of ev- idence that allows the trial court to determine the persuasiveness of the defendant’s constitutional claim” when it reaches Batson’s third step. Johnson v. California, 545 U.S. 162, 171 (2005). The sec- ond step in the Batson inquiry “does not demand an explanation USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 14 of 62 14 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 that is persuasive, or even plausible.” Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 767–68 (1995) (per curiam). At this step, “the issue is the facial va- lidity of the prosecutor’s explanation. Unless a discriminatory in- tent is inherent in the prosecutor’s explanation, the reason offered will be deemed race neutral.” Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 360 (1991) (plurality opinion).

The question for this court is whether the Alabama Supreme Court reasonably reached its conclusion that Brooks proffered a race-neutral reason under Batson’s second step. The Alabama Su- preme Court credited as the “only reasons” for Brooks’ strike was Davis’ “vagueness and lack of candor in stating what he had already heard about the trial, from what source he has gotten this infor- mation, and whether he could be willing to recommend the death penalty.” Ex parte Sockwell, 675 So. 2d at 40. In doing so, it rejected that “the prosecutor’s opening remark identifying [Davis] as a [B]lack man was given as a reason for striking him.” Id. The Ala- bama Supreme Court erred in finding that this statement by Brooks was merely a descriptive identification. We find the Alabama Supreme Court’s characterization of Brooks’ statement as “merely descriptive” as unpersuasive as the district court did.

More than stating Davis’ race, Brooks compared Davis’ race to Sockwell’s. But that does not mean that the Alabama Supreme Court’s underlying determination at this stage of the Bat- son inquiry was unreasonable. Considering that Batson’s second step is a low burden, so much so that the proffered race-neutral reason need not be “persuasive, or even plausible,” the Alabama USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 15 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 15 Supreme Court’s determination that Brooks met this low bar is not unreasonable despite the factual error. Purkett, 514 U.S. at 767–68. Still, Sockwell’s argument about the prosecutor’s comparison to the stricken juror, Davis, has force. The language should be con- sidered with all the relevant circumstances when we “determine the persuasiveness of the defendant’s constitutional claim” at Bat- son’s third step.

Johnson, 545 U.S. at 171. VII. Batson’s Third Step Sockwell first argues that the Alabama Supreme Court un- reasonably applied clearly established Supreme Court precedent by failing to explicitly perform the third step analysis and to determine whether he established purposeful discrimination. Instead, the court “stopped immediately after step 2” and deferred to the trial court’s finding that Brooks’ stated reasons for the Davis strike were race neutral. Next, he argues that even if the Alabama Supreme Court implicitly performed the required analysis, it unreasonably applied Batson’s third step by failing to consider all of the relevant circumstances. Sockwell’s first argument is foreclosed by this court’s prece- dent. We do not require “courts to show their work in Batson de- cisions by mentioning every relevant circumstance.” King v. War- den, Ga.

Diagnostic Prison, 69 F.4th 856, 869 (11th Cir. 2023). State courts are not required to list each fact or argument they consid- ered. See Lee, 726 F.3d at 1212. Thus, we presume that the Alabama Supreme Court implicitly considered the relevant circumstances. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 16 of 62 16 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 Next, Sockwell argues that, even if it does not do so explic- itly, the Alabama Supreme Court is not absolved from its duty to properly consider all of the relevant circumstances at Batson’s third step to determine whether Sockwell established purposeful dis- crimination. After careful review, we agree that the Alabama Su- preme Court’s implicit application of Batson’s third step was an un- reasonable application of clearly established law. A. AEDPA Review When determining whether the defendant has established purposeful discrimination, “the decisive question will be whether [the prosecutor’s] race-neutral explanation . . . should be believed.” Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 365.

In addressing this question, “a court must undertake a sensitive inquiry into such circumstantial and di- rect evidence of intent as may be available,” Batson, 476 U.S. at 93 (internal quotation marks omitted), to determine “whether the op- ponent of the strike has carried his burden of proving purposeful discrimination,” Purkett, 514 U.S. at 768. The defendant may present: (1) “statistical evidence about the prosecutor’s use of peremptory strikes against [B]lack prospec- tive jurors as compared to white prospective jurors in the case;” (2) “evidence of a prosecutor’s disparate questioning and investiga- tion of [B]lack and white prospective jurors in the case;” (3) “side- by-side comparisons of [B]lack prospective jurors who were struck and white prospective jurors who were not struck in the case;” (4) “a prosecutor’s misrepresentations of the record when defend- ing the strikes during the Batson hearing;” (5) “relevant history of USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 17 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 17 the State’s peremptory strikes in past cases;” or (6) any “other rele- vant circumstances that bear upon the issue of racial discrimina- tion.” Flowers, 588 U.S. at 302.

Under AEDPA, a state court’s finding of no purposeful dis- crimination is entitled to deference unless it is: (1) “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of,” Batson and its progeny, or (2) “resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable de- termination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1)–(2). “Where the concern is that a state court failed to follow Bat- son’s three steps, the analysis should be under AEDPA § 2254(d)(1).” McGahee v. Ala. Dep’t of Corr., 560 F.3d 1252, 1256 (11th Cir. 2009). “Under the ‘unreasonable application’ clause, a federal habeas court may grant the writ if the state court identifies the correct governing legal principle from this Court’s decisions but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner’s case.” Williams v.

Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 413 (2000). “[A] federal ha- beas court may not issue the writ simply because that court con- cludes in its independent judgment that the relevant state-court de- cision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incor- rectly. Rather, that application must also be unreasonable.” Id. at 411. Further, “[t]he decision must be ‘so obviously wrong that its error lies beyond any possibility for fairminded disagreement.’” Pye, 50 F.4th at 1034 (quoting Shinn v. Kayer, 592 U.S. 111, 118 (2020) (per curiam)). USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 18 of 62 18 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 The Supreme Court has clearly articulated that “[i]n decid- ing whether the defendant has made the requisite showing, the trial court should consider all relevant circumstances.” Batson, 476 U.S. at 96.

Our decision in Lee discussed the AEDPA standard for eval- uating whether the state court failed to consider the totality of “all relevant circumstances” under Batson. We held that an “unreason- able application” results where there are “explicit racial statements and strong evidence of discriminatory purpose,” such that no rea- sonable and fairminded jurist could have considered “all relevant circumstances” and find no Batson violation. Lee, 726 F.3d at 1213. 3 Sockwell points us to the following “relevant circum- stances,” that he claims the Alabama Supreme Court ignored: 3 Lee summarized our cases applying Batson. Specifically, the opinion pointed to our decisions in McGahee and Adkins for examples of explicitly racial justifi- cations for striking jurors. 726 F.3d at 1213. In McGahee, we noted the State’s claim that several Black jurors were struck due to “low intelligence” was “a particularly suspicious explanation given the role that the claim of ‘low intel- ligence’ has played in the history of racial discrimination from juries.” 560 F.3d 1252, 1265 (11th Cir. 2009).

We also agreed that the State’s reasoning for strik- ing the only remaining Black juror because it “did not want to leave him indi- vidually” could “be read only to mean that the State did not want to leave [him] as the sole [B]lack juror on the panel.” Id. at 1264. The “statement by the prosecutor that a juror was struck because of his race is a ‘relevant circum- stance” in determining whether Batson has been violated.” Id. In Adkins, we found that the state court unreasonably applied Batson when it failed to con- sider key facts such as “the fact that the prosecution explicitly noted the race of every [B]lack venire member (and only [B]lack venire members) on the jury list” used in jury selection, and “the fact that specific proffered reasons pro- vided by the prosecutor were incorrect and/or contradicted by the record.” 710 F.3d 1241, 1252 (11th Cir. 2013).

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 19 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 19 (1) Brooks’ relevant history of preemptory strikes in past cases that were found to have violated Batson; (2) the “statistical evidence about the prosecutor’s use of peremptory strikes against [B]lack prospective jurors as compared to white prospective jurors in the case;” (3) Brooks’ reasoning for striking Davis as compared to two white jurors who were not struck; and (4) Brooks’ response to questions about why she struck Davis, which bears “upon the issue of racial discrimination.” See Flowers, 588 U.S. at 302. We agree with Sockwell that the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision was an unreasonable application of Batson and its progeny. No reasonable and fairminded jurist could have considered “all relevant circum- stances” present here and find no Batson violation.

See Lee, 726 F.3d at 1228. i. History of Peremptory Strikes in Past Cases Batson challengers may present evidence of a “relevant his- tory of [the prosecutor’s] peremptory strikes in past cases.” Flowers, 588 U.S. at 302. Relevant history of prior peremptory strikes based on race bears on the question of present discrimination. See id. Here, Brooks had a significant history of striking jurors in a racially discriminatory manner right before and during Sockwell’s trial in 1990. Both the ACCA and Alabama Supreme Court found several instances of Brooks striking Black jurors in violation of Batson start- ing in 1988. 4 Sims v. State, 587 So. 2d 1271, 1277 (Ala. Crim. App. 4 In two cases, Alabama courts identified Brooks as the prosecutor who struck most if not all the Black jurors. In Ex parte Bird, the Alabama Supreme Court noted “a pattern in the use of peremptory strikes by the Montgomery County USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 20 of 62 20 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 1991) (“A number of cases prosecuted in Montgomery County have been reversed because of a Batson violation.”).

We discuss several of those cases in turn. First, in 1985 Samuel Williams was convicted of drug of- fenses, and he raised a Batson challenge before the ACCA. Williams v. State, 530 So. 2d 881, 883–86 (Ala. Crim. App. 1988). Brooks struck all the potential Black jurors. Id. at 883–85. The ACCA agreed with the trial court that Williams’ Batson objection was District Attorney’s office” to remove Black jurors—specifically in “a number of cases . . . prosecuted by Bruce Maddox and Ellen Brooks.” 594 So. 2d 676, 681 (Ala. 1991). For example, “[i]n Williams v. State, Ms. Brooks struck 100% of the [B]lack jurors from the venire.” Id. at 681 (citing 530 So. 2d 881 (Ala. Crim. App. 1988)). In at least two other cases, Brooks was not named directly but we can safely deduce that she was involved. At Sockwell’s trial, his attorneys pointed to Sims v. State—a case that Brooks prosecuted the prior week—where she struck fourteen of the sixteen Black jurors. 587 So. 2d 1271, 1275–78 (Ala.

Crim. App. 1991). Reviewing Brooks’ jury selection in Sims, the ACCA concluded that “the rea- sons offered by the prosecutor for her remaining strikes present serious doubts to this court as to their validity.” 587 So. 2d at 1276. The court observed that “[t]he same prosecutor involved in the present case, was also involved in Pow- ell, Williams, Warner, and Parker. Of these cases, three were reversed for Batson violations.” Id. at 1277 (referencing Powell v. State, 548 So.2d 590 (Ala. Crim. App. 1988), aff’d, 548 So.2d 605 (Ala. 1989); Williams, 530 So. 2d 501; Warner v. State, 594 So. 2d 664 (Ala. Crim. App. 1990); and Parker v. State, 568 So.2d 335, 338 (Ala. Crim. App. 1990)). The ACCA also cited testimony “from several local attorneys” who “had participated in trials prosecuted by the same assis- tant district attorney,” including Powell, Williams, and Warner.

Sims, 587 So. 2d at 1277. The defendant in the Warner case was a co-defendant in Bird. See Bird, 594 So. 2d at 678; Warner, 594 So. 2d at 666. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 21 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 21 untimely because it had been made after the jury had been sworn in, and he failed to justify the delay. Id. 885–86. But this was not Williams’ only appeal to the ACCA based on Brooks’ striking of Black jurors. In 1988, on appeal from Wil- liams’ conviction for a different drug offense, the ACCA found that Brooks’ explanation for striking all nine Black prospective jurors “did not meet the requirements of Batson” and returned the case to the trial court. Williams v. State, 548 So. 2d 501, 503 (Ala. Crim. App. 1988). The court specifically noted that those proceedings needed to comply with Batson.

Id. On remand, the state trial court held an evidentiary hearing and found that Brooks met her burden to make “a bona fide or legitimate showing that her use of the per- emptory strikes was for reasons other than race.” Id. at 504–06. But on appeal, the ACCA found Brooks’ supposed race-neutral rea- sons for striking most of the Black jurors were not “specific, bona fide, or legitimate,” and thus violated Batson. Id. at 507. 5 5 The dissenting opinion points out that Williams’ trial occurred in 1985, one year before the Supreme Court decided Batson. But Batson was “a new rule for the conduct of criminal prosecutions” that was “to be applied retroactively to all cases, state or federal, pending on direct review or not yet final.” Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 328 (1987). That “Brooks could not have purpose- fully violated a Supreme Court decision that did not exist until nearly a year later,” does not change the fact that Brooks purposefully struck Black jurors in the cases she prosecuted.

Brooks’ pattern of discriminatory strikes continued even after Batson, reinforces the conclusion that her discriminatory jury selec- tion was not due to a lack of notice about what the Equal Protection Clause requires. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 22 of 62 22 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 Second, in 1987, Timothy Powell was convicted of robbery and murder. He raised a Batson challenge because Brooks struck all the potential Black jurors, using thirteen of the State’s sixteen peremptory challenges. Powell v. State, 548 So. 2d 590, 592–93 (Ala. Crim. App. 1988), aff’d sub nom. Ex parte Powell, 548 So. 2d 605 (Ala. 1989). The ACCA noted that the trial court clearly erred in finding that many reasons that Brooks gave for striking Black jurors were sufficiently race-neutral. Id. at 594. “The State simply did not re- move white persons for the same reasons given by the State for removing [B]lacks.” Id. at 593.

Third, in 1987, Terry Bird was convicted of capital murder. Ex parte Bird, 594 So. 2d 676, 678 (Ala. 1991). Bird presented evi- dence that Brooks used “85% of her peremptory challenges, that is, 17 of 20 strikes, to eliminate 89% of the [B]lack veniremembers” for reasons unsupported by the record. Id. at 681. In 1991, the Al- abama Supreme Court found Brooks violated Batson. Id. at 678. The court noted that “the venire consisted of 52 prospective jurors. The 19 [B]lack veniremembers comprised 36% of the venire. How- ever, the fact that only one [B]lack juror was ultimately seated on the jury meant that [B]lacks comprised only 8% of the trial jury.” Id. at 680. Fourth, Brad Haywood Sims was convicted of a drug of- fense, and during voir dire, Brooks struck fourteen of the sixteen potential Black jurors. Sims v. State, 587 So. 2d 1271, 1272, 1275–76 (Ala.

Crim. App. 1991). Although the jury included two Black ju- rors, the ACCA noted “[t]he fact that two [B]lacks actually sat on USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 23 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 23 the jury is not proof that no racial discrimination occurred.” Id. at 1277. Ultimately, the ACCA found that Brooks violated Batson by striking several Black jurors again for traits and reasons that poten- tial white jurors provided yet were not challenged. Id. at 1277–78. 6 The Sims case had only been conducted the week before Sock- well’s, and Sockwell’s counsel brought up the Sims case in its argu- ment to reopen the Batson challenge before trial. 7 Brooks’ history of Batson violations is germane when con- sidering the relevant circumstances at Batson’s third step.8 “We 6 The ACCA expressly considered Brooks’ history of excluding Black jurors.

Sims v. State, 587 So. 2d 1271, 1277 (Ala. Crim. App. 1991). “The record also contains testimony at the Batson hearing from several local attorneys. These attorneys had participated in trials prosecuted by the same assistant district attorney as the one in the present case. All of the attorney-witnesses testified that in each instance, the prosecutor had excluded approximately 80% of the [B]lack veniremembers.” Id. 7 Sockwell’s counsel asked to inquire into the Sims trial, but the state trial judge denied that request. 8 We also must note that Brooks was not the only culprit within the Mont- gomery County District Attorney’s office. Bruce Maddox, who also engaged in striking Black jurors in a racially discriminatory manner, was called out in Bird. See Bird, 594 So. 2d at 681 (pointing to Maddox’s high strike rate of Black jurors in two cases).

After Bird, the Alabama Supreme Court again had to chastise Maddox for his discriminatory striking of twenty-four of the twenty- seven potential Black jurors in Ex parte Yelder. 630 So. 2d 107, 108 (Ala. 1992). The Alabama Supreme Court appeared exasperated by the fact that Brooks was still striking potential Black jurors for “whimsical, ad hoc excuses” that it had previously rejected. Id. at 109 (discussing the prosecutor’s “explanations” for striking Black jurors included that they had the same name as someone allegedly prosecuted by the district attorney’s office, the prosecutor’s “gut re- action,” “body language,” and alleged “communication difficulties” that USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 24 of 62 24 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 cannot ignore that history.” Flowers, 588 U.S. at 307. As a result, Brooks’ pattern of Batson violations shows that her strikes in Sock- well’s trial—which occurred around the same time as these state court cases—were “motivated in substantial part by discriminatory intent.” Id. at 305. ii.

Statistical Evidence As Batson explained: “total or seriously disproportionate ex- clusion of Negroes from jury venires is itself such an unequal ap- plication of the law . . . as to show intentional discrimination.” 476 U.S. at 93 (internal quotations and citation omitted). Further, “a ‘pattern’ of strikes against [B]lack jurors included in the particular venire might give rise to an inference of discrimination.” Id. at 97; see also Miller-El I, 537 U.S. at 342 (“[T]he statistical evidence alone raises some debate as to whether the prosecution acted with a race- based reason,” where the prosecution struck “91%” of the eligible Black venire members with ten of their fourteen peremptory strikes.). [I]n the statistical analysis courts must consider the statistics in the context of other factors in a case, such as: the racial composition of the venire from which the jurors were struck, the racial composition of the ultimate jury, the substance of the voir dire answers weren’t supported by the record).

The Alabama Supreme Court stated, “We regret that the conduct of the prosecution has, because of actions taken on the basis of race, once again necessitated a retrial, thus creating an additional strain on the judicial and economic resources of this state.” Id. at 110. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 25 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 25 of jurors struck by the State, and any other evidence in the record of a particular case. Lee, 726 F.3d at 1224. The racial composition of Sockwell’s jury pool consisted of ten Black jurors (24% of the total jury pool) and thirty-two white jurors (76% of the total jury pool). During the peremptory striking process, Brooks used the State’s fifteen peremptory strikes to re- move eight qualified Black jurors and seven qualified white jurors. But after Brooks’ strikes, 17% of the jurors were Black (i.e., only two Black jurors) and 83% were white (i.e., ten white jurors).

Brooks struck 80% of the qualified Black jurors while striking only 22% of the qualified white jurors. The number of Black jurors de- creased 50%, while the number of white jurors increased. 9 This statistical information establishes a pattern of striking qualified Black jurors far more often than qualified white jurors and provides strong evidence of the disproportionate exclusion of Black jurors against which Batson cautioned. 10 See McGahee, 560 F.3d at 1265. 9 In the other cases in which Alabama courts found Batson violations, Brooks struck between 81% and 100% of Black jurors. 10 Sockwell also points to other circuits’ use of the “challenge rate,” which compares the proportion of the party’s strikes against a racial group to the proportion of that group in the jury. See, e.g., Jones v. West, 555 F.3d 90, 98 (2d Cir. 2009). Sockwell asserts that Brooks’ challenge rate for Black jurors was 223% while her challenge rate for white jurors was only 61% at his voir dire.

Although this court’s opinion in Adkins does not specifically mention the chal- lenge rate, Sockwell states that after doing the calculation himself, the USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 26 of 62 26 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 iii. Reasoning for Striking Davis Third, Sockwell compares Davis with two white jurors— Lisa Burch and Peggy McFarlin—who were not struck for giving vague answers about pretrial publicity. During voir dire, Davis stated that he could not remember what he heard about the trial. Both Burch and McFarlin also did not remember in detail what they had heard. This comparison suggests that the vagueness of Davis’ answer was only pretextual because Brooks did not strike Burch or McFarlin. The contradiction that Brooks did not strike two white jurors who explicitly stated they did not know what they heard about the case is highly relevant when conducting the Batson step three analysis. 11 iv.

Brooks’ Response About the Strike Sockwell points out that Brooks directly compared Davis to Sockwell,12 by stating that “Davis, according to my notes, is a [B]lack male, approximately twenty-three years of age, which would put him very close to the same race, sex, and age of the challenge rate there was 218% for Black jurors, which is five percent less than what happened here. See Adkins v. Warden, 710 F.3d 1241, 1252–53 (11th Cir. 2013). The high differential in challenge rates here further persuades us that Brooks engaged in a discriminatory pattern of striking jurors. 11 Brooks also stated that Davis’ view on the death penalty was another reason for striking him, but that is not addressed by the Alabama Supreme Court. 12 Sockwell’s argument at Batson’s second step focuses extensively on this ex- change, and while we find that Sockwell did not meet his burden at that step, that does not foreclose us from considering Brooks’ response in the relevant circumstances discussion.

USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 27 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 27 defendant.” “The core guarantee of equal protection, ensuring cit- izens that their State will not discriminate on account of race, would be meaningless were we to approve the exclusion of jurors on the basis of such assumptions, which arise solely from the ju- rors’ race.” Batson, 476 U.S. at 97–98; see also Flowers, 588 U.S. at 298–99 (summarizing key points from Batson, including that strik- ing a Black juror on an assumption or belief that the Black juror would favor a Black defendant is impermissible). This comparison is relevant because it supports that Brooks felt as if Davis “would be partial to [Sockwell] because of their shared race.” Batson, 476 U.S. at 97. * * * These four relevant factors reinforce each other to show strong evidence of racial discrimination.

Even allowing for the def- erence afforded to the Alabama Supreme Court under AEDPA, a reasonable and fair-minded jurist could not have considered all of this evidence and concluded that Batson was not violated. Denying Batson relief, despite “the explicit racial statements and strong evi- dence of discriminatory purpose,” is an unreasonable application of the law. See Lee, 726 F.3d at 1213. Alabama state courts found that Brooks repeatedly and purposefully struck Black jurors, mak- ing only dubious and capricious excuses. See Bird, 594 So. 2d at 685. Along with the extensive statistical data of striking Black jurors in Sockwell’s case and Brooks’ explicitly race-based reasoning for re- moving Davis, confirms Brooks’ racially discriminatory intent. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 28 of 62 28 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 To be sure, a state court need not “discuss every fact or ar- gument to be a reasonable application of Batson under § 2254(d),” Lee, 726 F.3d at 1214, and we must not base our holding on our own independent judgment that the state court merely applied clearly established federal law incorrectly, Williams, 529 U.S. at 411.

Still, when there is truly an “abundan[ce of] racial discrimination evidence,” we may find the state court’s Batson decision was indeed unreasonable. Lee, 726 F.3d at 1214. Sockwell presents “strong evidence of discriminatory pur- pose.” See id. at 1223. No reasonable and fairminded jurist could have considered “all relevant circumstances” and still found no Bat- son violation.13 See id. at 1213. Thus, the Alabama Supreme Court acted unreasonably in applying Batson. 13 The dissenting opinion dives through several Eleventh Circuit cases to prove its point that when considering all relevant circumstances, “reasonable and fairminded jurists could conclude there was no Batson violation.” While the dissenting opinion details troublesome relevant circumstances—instances upon instances of prosecutors purposefully striking huge swath of Black jurors and flimsy reasons for striking those Black jurors—none of those cases in- volved a direct comparison of the defendant to a stricken Juror and a state su- preme court calling out the prosecutor by name and the office for serial Batson violations.

We do note that this court’s decision in King may be the closest case, but we find King to be distinguishable. King featured a prosecutor with one previous Batson violation, two soliloquies by the prosecutor that showed animosity to- wards having to comply with Batson, unsupported reasons for striking Black jurors, and statistical evidence. King v. Warden, Ga. Diagnostic Prison, 69 F.4th 856, 870–71 (11th Cir. 2023). But, here, there are more relevant circumstances that skew in Sockwell’s favor. First, we have more than one previous Batson USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 29 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 29 B. De Novo Review When we have determined that a state court decision is an unreasonable application of federal law under AEDPA, we are un- constrained by § 2254’s deference. McGahee, 560 F.3d at 1266.

We now review de novo the record below to determine whether the State, via Brooks, violated Batson during jury selection. As noted above, the record overflows with relevant circum- stances that weigh against Brooks’ proffered race-neutral reasons for exercising the challenged peremptory strike. The statistical ev- idence in Sockwell’s case is strong. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 97 (con- sidering the statistical evidence about a prosecutor’s strikes of Black prospective jurors versus white prospective jurors). And in other cases in which the Alabama courts found Batson violations, Brooks struck Black jurors at a high rate. Those cases also show a pattern and practice of Brooks striking Black jurors because Brooks’ strikes were found discriminatory by state courts from 1988 through 1992. violation with multiple Alabama appellate courts calling out Brooks and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office for serial Batson violations dur- ing the relevant time.

See, e.g., Bird, 594 So. 2d at 681. Second, Brooks com- pared Sockwell to Davis, stating she struck him for being the same race as the defendant, which is exactly what Batson cautioned against. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 97 (“[T]he Equal Protection Clause forbids . . . the States to strike [B]lack veniremen on the assumption that they will be biased in a particular case simply because the defendant is [B]lack.”). Add in the statistical evidence and the unsupported reasons for striking Davis, and Sockwell’s case is more akin to cases where defendants overcame AEDPA by showing the state courts had unreasonably applied Batson. See McGahee, 560 F.3d at 1264–65; Adkins, 710 F.3d at 1253. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 30 of 62 30 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 Flowers, 588 U.S. at 302 (finding that the relevant history of the State’s peremptory strikes supports a Batson claim).

And Brooks compared Davis to Sockwell for no legitimate reason, instead sug- gesting that due to their shared characteristics Davis would be par- tial to Sockwell. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 89. Brooks said that she struck Davis because he could not re- member specifics about the pre-trial publicity, yet there were white jurors who could not remember what they heard about the case, and Brooks did not strike them. During his individual voir dire, Davis explained that he had heard something about the incident, but he was vague as to where he had heard about the case. After further questioning, Davis explained that he heard people talking about what they had read in the newspaper. And, as noted above, there were two white jurors who were not struck despite being vague about what they heard about the case. A comparison of the voir dire shows that like Davis, the white jurors could not tell Brooks what they had heard about the trial.

For McFarlin, the state trial court asked about her access to pretrial publicity where she noted that she heard something about the matter in the paper. But in response to the state trial court’s question about whether she “read or heard anything about it, or from any source gained any information as to whether or not this defendant was guilty or not guilty,” she answered, “I can’t -- I don’t remember. I just barely remember the story, but I don’t remember how it ended.” In following up, the state trial court asked if she had “any opinion toward whether or not this defendant would be USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 31 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 31 guilty or not guilty right now from any source.” In response, she said, “I don’t really know what the story was really about, really. I just read a little bit of it in the paper and I don’t know what he’s done.” Ultimately, like Davis, McFarlin said that she could put aside anything she might have heard and could “make a fair, im- partial, and just decision in this case.” For Burch, the state trial court asked about her access to pre- trial publicity where she said that a while back, she “heard it on the news, but it was, you know, just briefly.” When asked if she could set aside anything she

may have heard, she responded yes, like Da- vis, but again reiterated that she couldn’t “even remember in full detail what I heard at that time.” Although Davis may have been a little vaguer than the two white jurors, the law does not require that “similarly situated” ju- rors are “identical in all respects.” Miller-El v.

Dretke, 545 U.S. 231, 247 n.6 (2005) (Miller-El II). Indeed, “[a] per se rule that a defendant cannot win a Batson claim unless there is an exactly identical white juror would leave Batson inoperable; potential jurors are not prod- ucts of a set of cookie cutters.” Id.; see also Flowers, 588 U.S. at 311– 12 (citing Miller-El II and affirming that “a defendant is not required to identify an identical white juror for the side-by-side comparison to be suggestive of discriminatory intent”). Brooks also stated that Davis’ view on the death penalty was another reason for striking him, but the Alabama Supreme Court did not address it. Our de novo review of the record does not sup- port that argument. Although there was some initial confusion USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 32 of 62 32 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 about how Davis felt about implementing the death penalty, it be- came very clear after the trial judge followed up that Davis could vote for the death penalty if the circumstances warranted it.

Spe- cifically, Davis stated that he could be “[f]air enough to listen to the trial and then come up with a verdict.” “A Batson challenge does not call for a mere exercise in think- ing up any rational basis. If the stated reason does not hold up, its pretextual significance does not fade because a trial judge, or an appeals court, can imagine a reason that might not have been shown up as false.” Miller-El II, 545 U.S. at 252. Thus, Sockwell met his burden at Batson’s third step to demonstrate Davis’ exclu- sion from the jury was purposeful discrimination. Brooks struck eight out of the ten Black jurors from Sock- well’s jury. A side-by-side comparison of individual reasons for striking Davis, a Black juror, with the reasons for not striking white jurors, Burch and McFarlin, reveals a substantial likelihood of race- based considerations in the exercise of those strikes.

In sum, the overwhelming evidence in this record compels a finding that Brooks’ use of her peremptory strike to dismiss Davis violated Sockwell’s rights under the Equal Protection Clause and clearly es- tablished federal law under Batson. VIII. Harmless Error The Commissioner argues that the Supreme Court’s deci- sion in Brown v. Davenport requires Sockwell to show that “‘law and justice’ require relief” for this court to grant habeas relief, even if he overcomes AEDPA. 596 U.S. 118, 134 (2022). The USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 33 of 62 23-13321 Opinion of the Court 33 Commissioner asks us to interpret this requirement as adding a harmless error analysis to Batson claims. 14 We decline to do so. This court has noted previously that the Supreme Court has not suggested that Batson violations are subject to harmless error review.

See Davis v. Sec’y for Dep’t of Corr., 341 F.3d 1310, 1316–17 (11th Cir. 2003) (per curiam). Since this court decided Davis in 2003, the Supreme Court has continued to reverse convictions even when only one or two potential jurors are struck in violation of Batson, no matter if it affected the outcome of the trial. See Flowers, 588 U.S. at 315–16; Foster v. Chatman, 578 U.S. 488, 514 (2016); Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472, 477–78, 486 (2008). “Equal justice under law requires a criminal trial free of racial discrimination in the jury selection process.” Flowers, 588 U.S. at 301. IX. Conclusion Accordingly, the district court’s order denying Sockwell’s federal habeas petition is REVERSED, and the case is REMANDED to the district court with instructions to issue the 14 Since Brown was released, other circuits have applied the “law and justice” requirement when a petitioner not only has to overcome AEDPA deference but an existing harmless error analysis.

See Jewell v. Boughton, 90 F.4th 1199, 1203–06 (7th Cir. 2024) (Confrontation Clause); Neal v. Vannoy, 78 F.4th 775, 796 (5th Cir. 2023) (ineffective assistance of counsel). This trend supports that Brown does not impose a new harmless error requirement in habeas cases. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 34 of 62 34 Opinion of the Court 23-13321 writ of habeas corpus conditioned upon the right of Alabama to retry Sockwell. REVERSED and REMANDED. USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 35 of 62 23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 1 LUCK, Circuit Judge, dissenting: Michael Sockwell blew “half of ” Montgomery County Dep- uty Sheriff Isaiah Harris’s “face off” with a shotgun as the deputy was driving to his shift at the police station. Sockwell v. State (Sock- well I), 675 So. 2d 4, 12–13 (Ala.

Crim. App. 1993), aff’d, Ex parte Sockwell (Sockwell II), 675 So. 2d 38 (Ala. 1995). Sockwell murdered Deputy Harris for money. Id. He confessed in a recorded state- ment to the police. He confessed to his friend. Id. at 13. And his coconspirator confessed and implicated him. See id. at 12–13. At Sockwell’s trial thirty-five years ago, Ellen Brooks, the prosecutor, used a peremptory challenge to strike veniremember Eric Davis, a black male, based on Juror Davis’s “vagueness and lack of candor in stating what he had already heard about the trial, from what source he ha[d] gotten this information, and whether he could be willing to recommend the death penalty.” Sockwell II, 675 So. 2d at 40. Applying the third step of the three-step Batson v. Ken- tucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) inquiry, the Alabama Supreme Court found that the peremptory strike of Juror Davis was not the result of pur- poseful discrimination.

Sockwell II, 675 So. 2d at 42. In all but the most “extreme” cases, we would defer to the state court’s finding. King v. Warden, Ga. Diagnostic Prison, 69 F.4th 856, 869, 873 (11th Cir. 2023). But the majority opinion relies on three premises to strip the Alabama Supreme Court of the defer- ence its finding is due under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). The first premise is that there were four rele- vant circumstances the Alabama Supreme Court had to consider in USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 36 of 62 2 LUCK, J., dissenting 23-13321 its Batson third step inquiry: (a) Ms. Brooks’s history of peremp- tory strikes based on race; (b) statistical evidence of a pattern of striking qualified black veniremembers; (c) Ms. Brooks’s reasons for striking Juror Davis compared to her decision not to strike two white jurors; and (d)

Ms. Brooks’s response to Sockwell’s Batson ob- jection explaining why she struck Juror Davis. The second premise is that the Alabama Supreme Court unreasonably applied the Bat- son third step inquiry because it ignored these four relevant circum- stances. And the third premise is that no fairminded jurist could have considered these four relevant circumstances and concluded, as the Alabama Supreme Court did, that the peremptory strike of Juror Davis was not the result of purposeful discrimination. Stripped of deference, the majority opinion reviews the cold record de novo, conducts its own Batson analysis thirty-five years removed from the courtroom, rejects the state court’s no-purposeful-discrimination finding, and orders the district court to grant the habeas writ so the state can figure out a way to retry Sockwell almost four decades after the murder.

The problem with the majority opinion is that each of its three premises is flawed. First, the four circumstances are not nearly as relevant as the majority opinion says they are. The ma- jority opinion misstates some relevant circumstances and over- looks the record as to others. Second, the Alabama Supreme Court did not unreasonably apply the Batson third step inquiry because it did not ignore the four relevant circumstances. It considered all the relevant circumstances proffered by Sockwell in finding no pur- poseful discrimination in striking Juror Davis. And third, even with USCA11 Case: 23-13321 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 06/30/2025 Page: 37 of 62 23-13321 LUCK, J., dissenting 3 the four relevant circumstances, a fairminded jurist could conclude that striking Juror Davis from the jury was not based on purposeful discrimination. A fairminded jurist already has.

See, e.g., id. at 868– 73. 1. The Four Circumstances Are Not Nearly as Relevant as the Majority Opinion Says They Are The majority opinion’s first premise is that there were four relevant circumstances that the Alabama Supreme Court had to consider in its Batson finding: (a) Ms. Brooks’s history of peremp- tory strikes in past cases; (b) the “statistical evidence about the pros- ecutor’s use of peremptory strikes against [b]lack prospective ju- rors in the case”; (c) “[Ms.] Brooks’[s] reasoning for striking [Juror] Davis as compared to two white jurors who were not