Whether the trial prosecutor's use of a peremptory strike against a Black venireperson based on the prosecutor's stated belief that the venireperson looked similar to the Black defendant—with the prosecutor later admitting under oath that race was "part of the reason" for the strike—violates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), and its progeny, particularly where the prosecutor's original race-neutral explanation has been directly contradicted by his own testimony.

Whether the prosecutor's racially discriminatory peremptory strike of a Black juror during Mr. Williams' capital trial violated his constitutional right to equal protection under Batson v. Kentucky