State of Florida v. John Pacchiana, 289 So.3d 857

John Pacchiana was convicted of first‑degree murder after a joint trial and sentenced to life; he appealed from Broward County.
During voir dire the State used a peremptory strike on a prospective juror who was Black and identified as a Jehovah’s Witness.
Defense sought a race‑neutral reason; the prosecutor said the juror was a Jehovah’s Witness and that "they’ve always said they can’t sit in judgment," prompting co‑counsel to say, "That’s a religious based strike."
The trial court questioned the juror, found her able to be fair, but ultimately allowed the State’s peremptory strike; defense later filed a written motion arguing Batson should extend to religion.
The Fourth District reversed, holding Batson extends to religion and the strike was impermissible; the State petitioned the Florida Supreme Court.
The Florida Supreme Court quashed the Fourth District’s decision, holding the religion‑based objection was not properly preserved and declining to resolve whether Batson applies to religion.

Issue	Pacchiana's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether the religion‑based objection to the peremptory strike was preserved	Defense sufficiently preserved when co‑counsel said, “That’s a religious based strike,” and the court addressed religion	Initial objection sought a race‑neutral reason; the religion claim was first clearly asserted five days later in a written motion and thus untimely	Objection not preserved; reversal on that ground was improper
Whether Batson v. Kentucky protection extends to religion	Batson protections should apply to religion‑based peremptory strikes	Batson addresses race; Florida Supreme Court has not extended it to religion	Court declined to decide on the merits (remanded after quashing for preservation defect)
Whether a religion‑based strike constitutes an unconstitutional religious test	Religion‑based systemic strikes violate federal and state constitutional protections	State disputed extension and argued preservation failure; trial court declined to extend Batson	Not decided due to preservation failure

Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (establishes Equal Protection limitation on race‑based peremptory strikes)
Melbourne v. State, 679 So. 2d 759 (Fla. 1996) (procedural steps for preserving Batson objections)
Johnson v. State, 750 So. 2d 22 (Fla. 1999) (contemporaneous objection and renewal requirements)
Matarranz v. State, 133 So. 3d 473 (Fla. 2013) (objection/re‑objection process controls preservation)
Harrell v. State, 894 So. 2d 935 (Fla. 2005) (purpose of contemporaneous objection is to give court chance to correct error; magic words not required)
Harper v. State, 549 So. 2d 1121 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989) (unpreserved sex‑based peremptory objection where only race was asserted)
Flowers v. Mississippi, 139 S. Ct. 2228 (2019) (jury service importance and scrutiny of discriminatory juror exclusion)
Pacchiana v. State, 240 So. 3d 803 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018) (district court decision extending Batson to religion)