State v. Decker, 365 P.3d 954

Victim was inside his girlfriend’s mother Judy’s apartment when Decker, after a prior fight, returned and fired three shots from the doorway; the victim died from two close-range chest wounds.
Apartment manager and Judy observed Decker at or in the doorway; Decker laughed, pocketed the gun, and left; he was later identified in a photo lineup and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree burglary.
At trial the jury convicted Decker of first-degree murder (both premeditated and felony murder) and first-degree burglary; he was sentenced to concurrent life terms and appealed.
On appeal Decker raised (1) Batson challenges to the State’s peremptory strikes of two African American venirepersons and (2) sufficiency of evidence for burglary based on whether bullets fired into the apartment constituted statutory “entry.”
The superior court denied the Batson challenges and overruled an objection to the prosecutor’s closing argument that a projectile can constitute entry; the Court of Appeals reviewed those rulings.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Batson challenge to strikes of Jurors 1 and 76	Prosecutor offered race-neutral reasons (lack of information; failure to follow instruction; inattentive demeanor); no purposeful discrimination	Decker argued strikes were pretextual (could have questioned jurors further; pattern of excluding African Americans)	Denial of Batson challenges affirmed—court credited race-neutral reasons and deferred to trial judge’s credibility findings
Whether bullets fired into a residence satisfy statutory "entry" for first-degree burglary	State argued A.R.S. § 13-1501(3) defines entry to include intrusion by any part of any instrument; a projectile is an instrument that intrudes and thus can constitute entry when used to effect a criminal objective	Decker argued projectile is not an "instrument" for entry (gun is the instrument; bullet is mere object) and entry-by-instrument should be limited to handheld implements	Court held a projectile intruding into a protected space can constitute entry under § 13-1501(3); bullets qualify as instruments and support burglary conviction when other elements are met

Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (prohibits race-based peremptory strikes under Equal Protection)
Miller-El v. Dretke, 545 U.S. 231 (evidence of pretext for strikes can include failure to follow up on possible nonrace reasons)
State v. Cañez, 202 Ariz. 133 (describes Batson three-step framework; burden on opponent)
State v. Garcia, 224 Ariz. 1 (deference to trial court’s credibility findings on Batson review)
State v. Kindred, 232 Ariz. 611 (insertion of instrument into doorjamb can constitute statutory entry)