In the United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit

August Term, 2023

(Argued: February 16, 2024 Decided: August 8, 2024

Docket No. 23-6055

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

–v.–

ELLVA SLAUGHTER,

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: JACOBS, ROBINSON, and NATHAN, Circuit Judges.

Defendant-Appellant Ellva Slaughter appeals from a January 13, 2023 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Failla, J.) convicting him of illegally possessing a firearm while knowing he had previously been convicted of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

On appeal, Slaughter challenges the district court’s denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the SDNY’s jury selection plan systematically underrepresents Black and Hispanic or Latino people in violation of his right to a grand jury drawn from a fair cross- section of the community under the Sixth Amendment and the Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968. The district court assumed without deciding that the underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic or Latino people on SDNY venires is significant, but denied Slaughter’s motion because he failed to establish the underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion in the District’s jury selection process.

Applying the framework set forth in Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357 (1979), we assume without deciding that the underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic or Latino people on SDNY venires is significant, but conclude that Slaughter has not met his burden of proving systematic exclusion. We therefore AFFIRM.

DANIELLE SASSOON (Matthew Weinberg & Stephen J. Ritchin, on the brief) for Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, NY.

EDWARD S. ZAS, Federal Defenders of New York, Inc., New York, NY, for Defendant-Appellant.

ROBINSON, Circuit Judge:

Defendant-Appellant Ellva Slaughter appeals from a January 13, 2023 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Failla, J.) convicting him of illegally possessing a firearm while knowing he had previously been convicted of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

2 On appeal, Slaughter challenges the district court’s denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the SDNY’s jury selection plan systematically underrepresents Black and Hispanic or Latino people in violation of his right to a grand jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community under the Sixth Amendment and the Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968. The district court assumed without deciding that the underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic or Latino people on SDNY venires is significant, but denied Slaughter’s motion on the ground that he failed to establish the underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion in the District’s jury selection process.

Applying the framework set forth in Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357 (1979), we assume without deciding that the underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic or Latino people on SDNY venires is significant, but conclude that Slaughter has not met his burden of proving systematic exclusion. We therefore AFFIRM.

BACKGROU