In the

    United States Court of Appeals
                 For the Seventh Circuit
                     ____________________
No. 23-2111
AKIL K. CARTER, PAULETTE H. BARR, and SANDRA K. ADAMS,
                                       Plaintiffs-Appellants,
                                 v.

CITY OF WAUWATOSA, et al.,
                                               Defendants-Appellees.
                     ____________________

         Appeal from the United States District Court for the
                   Eastern District of Wisconsin.
            No. 2:19-cv-1422 — J.P. Stadtmueller, Judge.
                     ____________________

     ARGUED APRIL 15, 2024 — DECIDED AUGUST 14, 2024
                 ____________________

   Before KIRSCH, PRYOR, and KOLAR, Circuit Judges.
   KOLAR, Circuit Judge. In 2018, Defendant-Appellee Patrick
Kaine conducted a vehicle stop to investigate a potential rob-
bery following a tip from a citizen. Plaintiffs-Appellants Akil
Carter, Paulette Barr, and Sandra Adams were in the car
stopped by Officer Kaine. During the stop, Officer Kaine
handcuffed Carter and put him in the back of his squad car
while he spoke with Adams and Barr, who remained in their
vehicle. While investigating, Officer Kaine realized that the
2                                                   No. 23-2111

tipster had been mistaken: no robbery had occurred, nor was
one in progress. After he confirmed that no criminal activity
was afoot, he uncuffed Carter and sent the three individuals
on their way. Following the incident, Carter, Barr, and Adams
sued Officer Kaine, the other officers involved in the stop, and
the City of Wauwatosa, asserting violations of their Fourth
Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure. The
case proceeded to trial, and the jury found in favor of the de-
fendants.
    On appeal, the plaintiffs contest the district judge’s deci-
sion to bifurcate the trial, the jury instructions, the exclusion
of their police-practices expert, and the judge’s failure to
recuse himself. We find no error in those rulings. The plain-
tiffs, however, also appeal the district judge’s denial of their
challenge to a peremptory strike under Batson v. Kentucky, 

 (1986). Because the record is insufficient for us to af-
firm the district judge’s denial of the Batson challenge, we re-
mand for additional findings by the district judge.
                        I.     Background
    In September 2018, City of Wauwatosa police officer Pat-
rick Kaine was patrolling when a citizen flagged him down
with a tip about a robbery in progress. The citizen told Officer
Kaine that he had witnessed a Black man robbing two white
women inside a blue Lexus.
    In response, Officer Kaine drove to locate the Lexus con-
taining the women and alleged robber. Once he located the
Lexus, he followed it until it began to turn onto a highway
onramp. At this point, Officer Kaine initiated a vehicle stop
pursuant to Terry v. Ohio, 

 (1968), and immediately
called for backup because he believed that the robber might
No. 23-2111                                                     3

have possessed a firearm. Barr and Adams, both white
women, were in the front seats, and Carter, a Black man, was
in the back seat, which was consistent with the tipster’s de-
scription.
   Once backup arrived, Officer Kaine ordered Carter to exit
the car. Carter exited the Lexus and complied with all of Of-
ficer Kaine’s commands. Officer Kaine, with help from an-
other officer, handcuffed Carter and placed him in the back
seat of a squad car with the door open.
    Officer Kaine approached the Lexus, where he quickly
learned that the tip he received was entirely inaccurate. Barr
and Adams immediately told Officer Kaine that there was no
robbery in progress. Instead, Barr explained that Carter was
her grandson, not a thief, and that the three were on their way
to get ice cream. Officer Kaine apologized for the inconven-
ience, uncuffed Carter, and told them that they were free to
go. Carter had been handcuffed for five minutes. The stop
lasted roughly eleven minutes in total.
    Following the stop, Carter, Barr, and Adams filed suit in
state court against Officer Kaine, the City of Wauwatosa, and
the other officers who provided backup that day. Their com-
plaint asserted claims under 

, including vio-
lations of their Fourth Amendment rights, municipal liability
under Monell v. N.Y. Dep’t. of Soc. Servs., 

 (1978),
state-law negligence, negligent and intentional infliction of
emotional distress, negligent hiring, false imprisonment, and
violations of the Wisconsin constitution. The defendants re-
moved to the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
    The parties bitterly litigated the case and the district judge
set it for trial. In August 2022, the district judge held a final
4                                                  No. 23-2111

pretrial conference. But the parties were unprepared for the
conference or for trial, having filed deficient jury instructions
and an insufficient verdict form. The district judge continued
the trial for a few months so that the parties could confer and
file appropriate instructions.
    Roughly a month before the delayed trial was set to begin,
on February 8, 2023, the parties convened before the district
judge for another final pretrial conference. At the pretrial con-
ference, the district judge determined that the trial would pro-
ceed only as to Officer Kaine. Thus, the jury would be asked
a single question: whether Officer Kaine possessed reasonable
suspicion sufficient to support the Terry stop. At the confer-
ence, the district judge also preliminarily excluded the plain-
tiffs’ proposed police-practices expert, Brian Landers, stating
that he did not believe that Landers’ testimony would be help-
ful to the jury because of the limited nature of the trial. The
district judge told the parties that he was open to reconsider-
ing any of these decisions at trial.
    Several days later, the plaintiffs moved for reconsideration
of the preliminary decisions made at the pretrial conference.
The district court denied the motion because, first, it had not
made a final ruling on any issues, like jury instructions and
the admissibility of expert testimony (including the testimony
of Landers), and second, because proceeding as to fewer is-
sues—that is, as to reasonable suspicion only—would be the
most expedient way to try the case. The district judge noted
that other issues could be handled through a Rule 54(b) mo-
tion after the trial.
    So, the trial proceeded, beginning with jury selection in
March 2023. At the close of voir dire, the district judge in-
structed the parties to exercise their peremptory strikes,
No. 23-2111                                                   5

which they did off the record. After that process, plaintiffs’
counsel informed the court that plaintiffs had an objection to
one of the defense’s strikes. The court again went off the rec-
ord to address the plaintiffs’ objections, which were heard in
full and decided at an untranscribed sidebar. The contempo-
raneous record does not indicate what type of objection the
plaintiffs made, but the trial record later indicated that the
plaintiffs had raised a Batson challenge.
    Two days later, after the jury had been charged and sent
to deliberate, the district judge noted that both the plaintiffs
and defendants wanted to make a record of what occurred at
the untranscribed sidebar following voir dire. Plaintiffs’ coun-
sel stated for the record that she had raised a challenge under
Batson to the defense’s strike of Juror 10. Juror 10 was a Black
woman with a master’s degree who was employed by Mil-
waukee County. When Juror 10 was struck by the defense, she
was the only remaining Black individual on the venire follow-
ing the for-cause excusal of Juror 14, who was also a Black
woman. Counsel for plaintiffs stated that after she objected,
the court held a sidebar. At the request of both counsel, the
judge allowed the parties to make a post-hoc record of the ob-
jection, and the following exchange occurred:
       [DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Plaintiffs are both Cau-
       casians and persons of color …. The peremptory
       strike was based on both her master’s degree
       and her employment as a Milwaukee County
       Social Service Social Worker …. Our concern in
       this case [is] … professional testimony regard-
       ing a claim of emotional injuries. That would be
       an individual who would be sympathetic.
6                                                  No. 23-2111

       THE COURT: All right. And given that one of
       the plaintiffs’ witnesses was a counselor, I think
       also is a contributing factor for both sides
       whether you want the individual or don’t, and
       so I find for the reasons that the court stated off
       the record yesterday, that the defense has pro-
       vided a race-neutral reason for having exercised
       their peremptory strike.
       And I also noted for the record that this is not a
       case in which there is a single plaintiff who hap-
       pens to be a minority whether Hispanic, Asian,
       or African American. There are two plaintiffs
       who are Caucasian, so that effectively neutral-
       izes the entirety of the applicability of the Su-
       preme Court’s ruling in Batson beyond the mat-
       ter of a race-neutral reason for the defense hav-
       ing exercised one of their peremptory strikes as
       to Juror Number 10.
Following this colloquy, plaintiffs’ counsel also indicated that
the district judge had stated off the record that Batson doesn’t
apply in civil cases because he had only ever seen it in crimi-
nal cases. Counsel cited Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., 

 (1991) in support of her position that Batson applies
equally to civil cases. The district judge denied the Batson
challenge without further comment.
    After a two-day jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in
favor of Officer Kaine, finding that he possessed reasonable
suspicion to stop the Lexus and the occupants therein. After
the verdict, the district judge issued a written order disposing
of the remaining claims and entered judgment in favor of the
officers and the City of Wauwatosa, which is not at issue in
No. 23-2111                                                    7

this appeal. Plaintiffs appeal only deficiencies related to the
pretrial decisions and the administration of the trial.
                      II.     Discussion
    The plaintiffs challenge several of the district judge’s deci-
sions on appeal. They argue that the district judge erred in
denying their Batson challenge; excluding their police-prac-
tices expert, Landers; and failing to instruct the jury on the
difference between a Terry stop and an arrest. The plaintiffs
also contend that the district judge should have recused him-
self and that he improperly granted summary judgment sua
sponte in allowing the trial to proceed only as to Officer Kaine
and the subject of reasonable suspicion. Finally, the plaintiffs
assert that cumulative error requires a new trial.
    The plaintiffs are correct that the district judge did not
properly conduct the Batson inquiry, and we will remand for
further factual findings consistent with this opinion. The
plaintiffs’ remaining arguments, however, entirely lack merit.
We thus affirm in all other respects.
A. Batson
    Excluding “even a single prospective juror on account of
race, ethnicity, or gender violates the Equal Protection
clause.” United States v. Rutledge, 

 (7th Cir.
2011) (citing Snyder v. Louisiana, 

 (2008))
(cleaned up). The three-step Batson process is well-estab-
lished. First, the challenger must make out “a prima facie case
of purposeful discrimination.” Batson, 476 U.S. at 93–94. The
burden at the prima facie stage is low, “requiring only circum-
stances raising a suspicion that discrimination occurred, even
where those circumstances are insufficient to indicate that it
is more likely than not that the challenge was used to
8                                                    No. 23-2111

discriminate.” Lisle v. Welborn, 

 (7th Cir.
2019). If the district judge proceeds past step one and rules on
the ultimate issue of pretext, the question of whether the chal-
lenger stated a prima facie case becomes moot. Hernandez v.
New York, 

 (1991).
    If the challenger makes out a prima facie case, the burden
shifts to the striking party to provide a race-neutral explana-
tion for the strike. Batson, 

. At this second step,
the proffered reasons must be “clear and reasonably specific”
and “related to the particular case.” Coulter v. Gilmore, 

 (7th Cir. 1998).
    If such a reason is provided, the district judge must assess
whether the race-neutral reasons provided by the striking
party are pretext for racial discrimination. “Step three, at
which the trial court weighs the evidence and determines
whether the strike’s opponent has proved purposeful dis-
crimination, is the heart of the matter.” United States v. Lovies,

 (7th Cir. 2021) (cleaned up). The district court
must make credibility determinations at this stage. Lisle, 

; Morgan v. City of Chicago, 

 (7th
Cir. 2016).
    The three steps of Batson are analytically distinct, United
States v. Rutledge, 

 (7th Cir. 2011), and “[w]e
encourage district courts to follow each of Batson’s three steps
in sequence and to develop a comprehensive record as to each
step.” Lovies, 

. Our cases make clear that a dis-
trict judge must proceed to and through the third step if she
reaches the first two. See 

; United States v. McMath,

, 663–65 (7th Cir. 2009).
No. 23-2111                                                      9

   We review whether a district judge properly conducted
the three-step Batson inquiry de novo but review a district
court’s step-three factual findings for clear error. McMath, 

; United States v. Watkins, 

 (7th Cir.
2024). This means we will affirm a district judge’s step-three
findings unless we arrive at a “definite and firm conviction
that a mistake has been made.” McMath, 

. Since
the trial judge is in the best position to make factual determi-
nations, we only disturb such findings if “the reason given is
completely outlandish or there is other evidence which
demonstrates its falsity.” United States v. Stafford, 

 (7th Cir. 1998).
    Batson’s third step requires that the district judge make
factual findings on the record regarding whether the striking
party’s proffered reason for the strike is pretextual. Snyder,
522 U.S. at 477; Morgan, 

. We often refer to this
finding as a credibility determination. Rutledge, 

 (“Credibility determinations can be made in many ways,
and for that reason we treat the district court’s findings at step
three as findings of fact.”). Failure to make the step-three
credibility determination is a legal error that satisfies any
standard of review. McMath, 

 n.2. Further, we
cannot substitute our judgment for that of the district court—
factual findings at Batson’s third step lie “within a trial judge’s
province.” Snyder, 522 U.S. at 477 (cleaned up). And while the
district judge need not use any magic words in completing the
step-three inquiry, he must do more than summarily deny the
challenge or merely categorize the striking party’s reason as
race-neutral. McMath, 

; Rutledge, 

.
10                                                   No. 23-2111

    In cases where the district judge fails to appropriately pro-
ceed to or conduct Batson’s third step, we have consistently
remanded for additional findings by the district judge. E.g.,
United States v. Watkins, 107 F.4th at 621–22; Rutledge, 

; McMath, 

. This is in part because if the
district judge fails to state his findings for the record, there is
a “void that stymies appellate review, gives us no finding of
fact to which we might defer, and ultimately precludes us
from affirming the denial of the Batson challenge.” Morgan,

.
    A few examples are worth exploring. We begin with
United States v. Taylor, 

 (7th Cir. 2007). In Taylor,
the defense made three Batson challenges to the prosecution’s
strikes. 

. While the district court found that two of
the strikes were not racially motivated after assessing the
prosecutor’s credibility, he “overlooked this last step with re-
spect to one potential juror.” 

 As to that third juror, we were
“unable to come to any conclusion … because the district
court did not make a record of its credibility determination at
the third stage of the Batson inquiry.” 

. Accordingly,
we remanded the case to the district court “to supplement the
record with its reasons for denying the Batson challenge” with
respect to a single potential juror. 

   So, too, in McMath. There, the district judge summarily de-
nied the defense’s Batson challenge. Id. at 663. The prosecutors
argued that this flat denial should be treated as “’implicit
findings’ on whether the prosecutor’s race-neutral reason was
credible.” Id. at 664. We rejected this argument. Applying the
Supreme Court’s decision in Snyder v. Louisiana, 

(2008), we held that because the district judge “made no find-
ings regarding the prosecutor’s race-neutral demeanor-based
No. 23-2111                                                    11

justification of the strike … we cannot presume that the pros-
ecutor’s race-neutral justification was credible simply because
the district judge ultimately denied the challenge.” Id. at 666.
The district judge’s failure to make such findings “leaves a
void in the record that does not allow us to affirm the denial.”
Id.
    While both Taylor and McMath involved silence by the dis-
trict court at step three, we have also remanded in cases where
the district judge made insufficient findings, or, as here,
merely repeated the striking party’s facially neutral reason for
the strike. Take, for example, United States v. Rutledge, 

 (7th Cir. 2011). In Rutledge, the district judge denied a Bat-
son challenge in the following way: “Those [reasons offered
by the prosecution for the strike] are both nonracial-related
reasons. So I’m going to excuse [the stricken juror].” 

.
In remanding for further findings, we found it “disturbing[]”
that during the Batson discussion, “the district court never
once credited the demeanor-based reason for the prosecutor’s
peremptory strike.” 

. Rather, the court “merely re-
peated that the demeanor-based justification was a ‘non-racial
reason.’” 

    More recently, we addressed a similar situation in United
States v. Watkins, 

 (7th Cir. 2024). In Watkins, the
district judge heard the prosecution’s race-neutral reasons
(that is, conducted step two), and stated for the record that he
“will find those are race-neutral reasons.” Watkins, 

. He said nothing more, and like in Rutledge, we re-
manded for additional findings. 

   In this case, we must analyze whether the district judge
properly conducted the Batson inquiry. The plaintiffs dispute
12                                                 No. 23-2111

the credibility of the defendants’ proffered reason for striking
Juror 10, so we focus solely on Batson’s third step.
   Based upon the record before us, it is difficult to discern
whether the district judge properly completed Batson’s third
step. In one exchange at oral argument, defense counsel told
us that he did not believe that the district judge had con-
ducted the third step of the analysis on the record. Ultimately,
we agree that the district judge halted his Batson analysis too
early, completing the required step two finding but failing to
continue forward to step three.
    After the jury was discharged, plaintiffs’ counsel stated for
the record that she believed Juror 10—a social worker—had
been struck because she was the final Black member of the ve-
nire panel. Defense counsel had lodged a preemptory strike
based upon Juror 10’s employment as a counselor who
worked for Milwaukee County, indicating that the defend-
ants believed Juror 10 would be unusually sympathetic to one
of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses, a counselor, who testified
to the emotional damage that Carter suffered because of the
stop.
    To complete the Batson inquiry, the judge needed to decide
whether the defense’s proffered reason for the strike was pre-
textual. Rutledge, 648 F.3d at 558–59. But he didn’t do so. In-
stead, he said:
       And given that one of the plaintiffs’ witnesses
       was a counselor, I think also is a contributing
       factor for both sides whether you want the indi-
       vidual or don’t, and so I find for the reasons that
       the court stated off the record yesterday, that
No. 23-2111                                                    13

       the defense has provided a race-neutral reason
       for having exercised their peremptory strike.
We have previously stated that simply classifying the striking
party’s “justification” as “race-neutral … is not enough” to
constitute a step three Batson finding. Rutledge, 

;
see also Lisle, 

. Batson’s third step “requires the
court to weigh the evidence and determine whether the [strik-
ing party’s] nondiscriminatory reason for the strike is credi-
ble.” Rutledge, 

 (emphasis in original). And
“Batson cannot operate properly if the second and third steps
are conflated.” 

 This is why we have encouraged district
courts to take Batson’s steps in order such that we can easily
discern a step-two finding from a step-three one. Lovies, 

. Here, a remand for the step-three analysis is nec-
essary.
   We have considered whether we can take the district
judge’s initial comments, including those about Juror 10’s
background as a counselor, as the findings necessary to un-
derpin a third-step analysis. This reading is difficult for us to
square, since the district judge concluded with saying “and so
I find”—for the reasons stated off the record—”the defense
has provided a race neutral reason.”
    The district judge signaled to the parties that he was
providing reasons to support the finding of a race-neutral rea-
son and then stopped short. And the most natural reading of
the second half of the district judge’s comment classifying the
defense’s reason as “race-neutral” suggests that the judge was
not making any credibility determinations. The district judge
did not indicate whether he believed the defense, whether he
found them credible, or whether, in his discretion, he thought
the counselor could be unusually sympathetic to one of the
14                                                   No. 23-2111

plaintiffs’ witnesses. See Lisle, 

. Instead, he par-
roted defense counsel’s proffered reason and correctly found
it to be race-neutral. But determining whether the defense
provided a race-neutral reason is not the point of step three of
the Batson analysis. Rather, it is the point of step two.
    This issue is made more difficult because the judge heard
the initial objection at an untranscribed sidebar, which is in-
consistent with our request that district judges develop “a
crystal-clear record … for the benefit of all, including to facil-
itate appellate review.” Lovies, 16 F.4th at 503–04. After the
sidebar, the district judge allowed the parties to make a post-
hoc record of the objection. Despite the parties’ request that
the district judge make a record of the Batson challenge, on
appeal we have only the brief colloquy above. Either there
was more to the district judge’s analysis that he decided not
to put on the record, or the step-three analysis was never com-
pleted. Either way, the record before us does not allow us to
affirm the judge’s denial of the Batson challenge and we must
remand for additional findings, as required by our precedent.
    The colloquies in Rutledge and Watkins, discussed above,
bear striking similarity to the one here. In this case, like in
Rutledge and Watkins, the district judge merely repeated the
rationale offered by the defense. Further, as in Rutledge and
Watkins, counsel did not request that the judge put any addi-
tional step-three analysis on the record. 

. We
therefore see no reason to depart from our well-settled prac-
tice of remanding for further findings by the district judge. See
Watkins, 

. That this case is a civil one does not
change our analysis. See Lisle, 

 (remanding for
further findings in a civil case when “the judge never took the
No. 23-2111                                                     15

final step of making a finding on the spot about the credibil-
ity” of the striking party’s reasons).
    Accordingly, we remand the case for the district judge to
properly complete the three-step process under Batson. As in
Watkins, we express no opinion as to the outcome of the cred-
ibility issues or factual findings, which are “matter[s] for the
district court to consider in the first instance.” Watkins, 

. Depending on the outcome of a properly con-
ducted Batson process, placed upon the record to allow for ap-
pellate review, the judge may order a new trial, reopen the
period for dispositive motions, or manage this case as he oth-
erwise sees appropriate.
    It would have been best if all of the district judge’s relevant
comments appeared in the record. See Lovies, 

.
In this case, both parties asked the district court to make a rec-
ord, and the district judge addressed the Batson issue in the
limited manner discussed above. When reviewing Batson
claims where there is a gap in the record that does not allow
us to determine that the proper steps were followed, or where
the necessary findings were not made, we remand for further
findings. Morgan, 

. And that makes sense be-
cause Batson is not merely about the parties’ rights. Rather,
Batson also implicates the potential juror’s Equal Protection
rights.
    The district judge was understandably frustrated by the
parties’ litigation conduct. But district judges have a unique
responsibility in properly administering Batson in part be-
cause potential jurors are not represented by counsel who can
ensure that their Equal Protection rights are not violated. That
job “rests first and foremost with trial judges.” Flowers v. Mis-
sissippi, 

 (2019). “Other than voting, serving
16                                                   No. 23-2111

on a jury is the most substantial opportunity that most citi-
zens have to participate in the democratic process.” 

.
Creating a “comprehensive record as to each step” of a Batson
inquiry for appeal helps courts fulfill the Supreme Court’s
mandate that we do not allow Batson to “backslide[].” Lovies,

; Flowers, 

.
    We also briefly address the plaintiffs’ contention that the
district court erred in excusing Juror 14. The court excused Ju-
ror 14, a Black woman, for cause after she told the court that
she would need to find alternative care for her elderly brother,
and plaintiffs’ counsel objected. To the extent that the plain-
tiffs appeal their challenge to the excusal of Juror 14 under
Batson, that argument was not raised below, and we therefore
decline to address it. Nothing in the district court record
shows that the plaintiffs raised a Batson challenge to Juror 14.
See Batson, 476 U.S. at 93–94 (requiring a “prima facie case of
purposeful discrimination”).
    A few final points in closing. Batson applies in civil cases.
Flowers, 

 (citing Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete
Co., 

 (1991)). And a party of any race may
make a Batson challenge, including when the party challeng-
ing the strike and the stricken juror are of different races. 

So the fact that two of the three plaintiffs in this case are white
women does nothing to change the applicability of Batson,
contrary to the district judge’s statements on the record.
B. Bifurcation
   The plaintiffs’ remaining arguments regarding the district
judge’s decisions before and during the trial lack merit. We
take each in turn, beginning with the plaintiffs’ contention
No. 23-2111                                                        17

that the district court improperly sua sponte granted summary
judgment.
    Before the trial began, the district judge decided that the
trial would be best administered by answering the question
of reasonable suspicion as to Officer Kaine—the officer who
initiated the stop—before addressing any other issues. The
plaintiffs characterize the district court’s decision as an imper-
missible sua sponte grant of summary judgment as to the other
claims and the remaining defendants, which they believe
should have gone to trial. But in doing so, they misunder-
stand the nature of the district court’s order.
    District judges have substantial discretion in administer-
ing trials. Testa v. Village of Mundelein, Ill., 

 (7th
Cir. 1996). And Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42 explicitly
allows district courts to bifurcate claims for trial “for conven-
ience, to avoid prejudice, or to expedite and economize.” Fed.
R. Civ. P. 42(b). In this case, the district judge bifurcated the
trial such that it would first address the central issue in this
case: whether Officer Kaine possessed reasonable suspicion
when he stopped the plaintiffs. In reviewing a decision to bi-
furcate, “[w]e need not decide whether this was the best or
even the only good way of trying this case.” Houseman v. U.S.
Aviation Underwriters, 

, 1128 (7th Cir. 1999). Our
task is much simpler: we review the district judge’s decision
for abuse of discretion only. Volkman v. Ryker, 

 (7th Cir. 2013).
    The plaintiffs asserted that the tip received by Officer
Kaine was insufficient to confer reasonable suspicion suffi-
cient to justify the stop. Consequently, the jury’s determina-
tion on the existence of reasonable suspicion went to the heart
of every claim. And if the jury found no underlying
18                                                    No. 23-2111

constitutional violation (as it did), the plaintiffs’ Monell claim
could not survive. Trying the question of reasonable suspi-
cion first informed whether further proceedings were re-
quired at all. See, e.g., Treece v. Hochstetler, 

 (7th
Cir. 2000). As such, the district judge did not abuse his discre-
tion in trying this critical issue first.
C. Exclusion of Expert Testimony
   The plaintiffs next argue that the district court erroneously
excluded the testimony of their police-practices expert, Brian
Landers, who would have testified as to whether the officers
conducted the stop in a manner consistent with their training.
We disagree.
    We review de novo whether the district judge applied the
appropriate legal standard in admitting or excluding expert
testimony, and we review for abuse of discretion the ultimate
admissibility decision. Florek v. Village of Mundelein, Ill., 

 (7th Cir. 2011). Because the plaintiffs do not ar-
gue that the district judge misapplied the applicable legal
standard, our review is for abuse of discretion only. A district
judge abuses his discretion when no reasonable person could
agree with his decision. Downing v. Abbott Labs., 

 (7th Cir. 2022).
    In this case, the district judge focused the trial on the ques-
tion of reasonable suspicion. That inquiry required explora-
tion of whether Officer Kaine could “point to specific and ar-
ticulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences
from those facts, reasonably warrant [an] intrusion.” United
States v. Pace, 

 (7th Cir. 2022) (quoting United
States v. Eymann, 

, 282 (7th Cir. 2020)). To decide
whether reasonable suspicion existed, the jury did not need
No. 23-2111                                                  19

to determine whether the method of conducting the stop was
consistent with best police practices or the City’s procedures.
Thus, Landers would not have had anything “useful to say
about the particular circumstances at issue.” Downing, 

. “[E]xpert testimony which does not relate to any
issue in the case is not relevant and, ergo, non-helpful.” Daub-
ert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 

 (1993). The
district judge did not abuse his discretion in excluding
Landers’ testimony.
    Further, whether Officer Kaine possessed reasonable sus-
picion sufficient to stop the Lexus was not a particularly com-
plicated inquiry. We are convinced that the jury needed no
help from an expert in conducting it. Officer Kaine’s suspicion
was based on a citizen’s tip that a robbery was in progress.
Officer Kaine investigated this tip by stopping the Lexus.
Whether this tip gave rise to reasonable suspicion is “a matter
of everyday experience,” where “expert testimony is less
likely to be admissible.” Florek, 649 F.3d at 602–03 (citing
United States v. Hanna, 

, 1085–86 (9th Cir. 2002)).
Given the focus of the trial, we cannot conclude that the dis-
trict judge abused his discretion in excluding Landers from
testifying.
D. Jury Instructions
    The plaintiffs also contend that the district judge erred by
failing to instruct the jury on the difference between a Terry
stop and an arrest and by failing to instruct the jury that open
carry of certain firearms in Wisconsin is not a crime. Both con-
tentions lack merit.
   Our review of the district judge’s jury instructions is def-
erential. We analyze the instructions “as a whole to determine
20                                                   No. 23-2111

if they accurately state the law and do not confuse the jury.”
Doornbos v. City of Chicago, 

 (7th Cir. 2017). A
district judge is not obligated to “describe all valid legal prin-
ciples” in his instructions. EEOC v. AutoZone, Inc., 

 (7th Cir. 2016). We will reverse “only if the instruc-
tions in their entirety so thoroughly misled the jury that they
caused prejudice.” Downing, 

 (citation omitted).
    The plaintiffs argue that the district judge should have in-
structed the jury on the difference between a Terry stop and
an arrest. They are mistaken.
   On February 1, 2023, the parties submitted their proposed
jury instructions, and the plaintiffs included Seventh Circuit
Pattern Civil Jury Instruction 7.06, which deals with Terry
stops, along with the additional language provided in Com-
ment C to Instruction 7.06. Comment C provides:
       In most situations, the court will decide whether
       the seizure was sufficiently short or unintrusive
       to constitute a Terry stop. If the court finds the
       seizure went beyond a Terry stop, the court
       should give Instruction 7.07, for false arrest. If
       there is a factual dispute as to whether an inves-
       tigatory stop or an arrest took place, the court
       may need to give both sets of instructions and
       advise the jury to apply one or the other based
       on its resolution of the disputed facts.
See Committee on Federal Civil Jury Instructions of the Sev-
enth Cir., Pattern Civil Jury Instr. 7.06 cmt. C. As discussed
below, the district judge did not ultimately instruct the jury
using the language in Comment C.
No. 23-2111                                                   21

    At 9:00 p.m. on March 12, 2023, the day before trial, the
plaintiffs submitted a proposed supplemental jury instruction
that outlined various factors the jury could consider in deter-
mining whether the plaintiffs were arrested. They also sub-
mitted an objection to the court’s proposed instructions—
which were provided to the parties at the February 8 final pre-
trial conference—to the extent that they did not instruct the
jury on the difference between a Terry stop and an arrest. The
next day, the district judge admonished plaintiffs’ counsel,
stating:
       Again, with all due respect Ms. Bertrand, if you
       or any lawyer looked at the docket sheet in this
       case, you talk about obfuscations and stream of
       consciousness and lack of professionalism in re-
       sponse to this Court's order, and I specifically
       am referencing the matter of the summary judg-
       ment debacle and now just last night at 9:00 fil-
       ing changes in jury instructions. Those are not
       going to go anywhere because you did not meet
       and confer, and you had every day since Febru-
       ary 8th to do just that, and you chose a different
       path, and there are consequences seriously. Se-
       rious consequences I might add.
   First, we do not believe the district court erred in refusing
to consider the late-filed supplemental instruction. District
courts have “considerable discretion in interpreting and ap-
plying their local rules” and we review the decision to enforce
a rule “for an abuse of discretion.” Frakes v. Peoria Sch. Dist.
No. 150, 

 (7th Cir. 2017). As the district judge
noted, plaintiffs’ counsel had nearly a month to meet and con-
fer with opposing counsel regarding the supplemental
22                                                   No. 23-2111

instruction. She did not do so. Consequently, the judge de-
cided that he would not consider the supplemental instruc-
tion. We cannot conclude that the district judge abused his
discretion in this situation.
    Second, we also disagree that the district judge was obli-
gated to instruct the jury on the difference between a Terry
stop and an arrest. For a Terry stop, the “detention must be
temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate
the purpose of the stop.” United States v. Bullock, 

 (7th Cir. 2011). In this case, though, the district judge
made clear that the only issue before the jury was reasonable
suspicion. In these circumstances, we cannot agree that the
district judge abused his discretion in failing to give an in-
struction on the difference between a Terry stop and an arrest.
Additionally, the instruction that the district judge did give
on Terry stops was this Circuit’s pattern instruction, which is
“presumed to accurately state the law,” United States v. Freed,

 (7th Cir. 2019), and the plaintiffs do not ar-
gue that the instruction given misstated the law or misled the
jury. We thus see no reason to fault the district judge’s deci-
sion.
    Finally, the plaintiffs contend that the district judge
should have instructed the jury on the finer points of Wiscon-
sin firearms law. Yet again, we reject the plaintiffs’ contention.
    At trial, the plaintiffs sought to argue that Officer Kaine
could not have possessed reasonable suspicion based on the
allegation of Carter having a gun because possessing certain
firearms in vehicles is not illegal in Wisconsin. During the
charge conference, the parties stipulated that the possession
of certain types of firearms in vehicles is not a crime in Wis-
consin. The district judge told the parties that he did not
No. 23-2111                                                     23

believe an instruction on Wisconsin’s firearms law was neces-
sary, but that the plaintiffs could argue that point to the jury
during their closing arguments. Just as above, we cannot con-
clude that the failure to give this instruction was reversible
error. The district judge permitted the plaintiffs to argue that
possession of a firearm in a car was not necessarily criminal
during closing argument. We consider the instructions,
“along with all of the evidence and arguments,” to determine
whether the jury was misled. AutoZone, 

; see also
United States v. Choiniere, 

 (7th Cir. 2008) (no
error when the jury instructions accurately stated the law and
defense was permitted to argue tangential points in closing).
We see no need for reversal here.
E. Recusal
     Next, the plaintiffs urge us to reverse the district judge’s
decision not to recuse himself from the proceedings. We de-
cline this invitation. During the trial, the district judge repeat-
edly admonished plaintiffs’ counsel for the way she litigated
the case and expressed serious doubt as to the case’s merits.
Before trial began, and after one such admonishment for poor
litigation conduct, plaintiffs’ counsel requested that the dis-
trict judge recuse himself. He denied the motion for recusal.
According to the plaintiffs, the district judge could not have
possibly been a fair arbiter given his comments. We disagree.
    A district judge must recuse himself “in any proceeding in
which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” 

(a). “[O]pinions formed by the judge on the basis
of facts introduced or events occurring in the course of the
current proceedings … do not constitute a basis for a bias or
partiality motion unless they display a deep-seated favoritism
or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible.”
24                                                    No. 23-2111

Liteky v. United States, 

 (1994). This means that
“judicial remarks during the course of a trial that are critical
or disapproving of, or even hostile to, counsel, the parties, or
their cases, ordinarily do not support a bias or partiality chal-
lenge.” 

     Here, we have little trouble stating that the district judge
was not required to recuse himself. There is no doubt that he
appeared frustrated with the way the parties conducted the
litigation. But expressions of “impatience, dissatisfaction, an-
noyance, and even anger” are not necessarily indicative of a
district judge’s inability to exercise fair judgment. 

 at 555–
56. And the district judge continued to exercise fair judgment
after expressing his dissatisfaction with plaintiffs’ counsel
and his serious reservations about the merits of her case. In-
deed, he ruled in favor of the plaintiffs at various points, in-
cluding by denying the defendants’ motion for judgment as a
matter of law and denying the defendants’ request that a pu-
nitive-damages instruction not be given.
F. Cumulative Error
    In closing, the plaintiffs ask us to send this matter back for
a new trial because all the above errors so affected the pro-
ceedings as to render them insufficient. Again, we disagree.
Civil litigants are entitled “to a fair trial, not a perfect one.”
Lemons v. Skidmore, 

 (7th Cir. 1993). Cumula-
tive error applies in circumstances when “multiple errors oc-
curred at trial, and [] those errors, in the context of the entire
trial, were so severe as to have rendered [the] trial fundamen-
tally unfair.” United States v. Powell, 

 (7th Cir.
2011). We reject the plaintiffs’ cumulative error argument be-
cause—other than the necessary remand on Batson—we di-
vine no other errors on the part of the district judge.
No. 23-2111                                        25

                  III.   Conclusion
   For the reasons stated above, we AFFIRM IN PART and
REMAND IN PART for further findings on the Batson chal-
lenge to Juror 10.
26                                                  No. 23-2111

    KIRSCH, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in
part. I join the majority’s opinion, except as to its conclusion
that we are required to remand for additional factual findings
on the plaintiffs’ Batson challenge regarding Juror 10. The ma-
jority takes issue with step three of the Batson inquiry, which
requires the district court to determine whether the party op-
posing the strike has proved that the proffered reason for the
strike was pretext for purposeful discrimination. Purkett v.
Elem, 

 (1995). The court can satisfy this re-
quirement “in many ways,” although “merely repeat[ing]
that the … justification was a ‘nonracial-related reason’” is in-
sufficient. United States v. Rutledge, 

 (7th
Cir. 2011). But that’s not what the district judge did here. Ra-
ther, the judge stated that Juror 10’s occupation as a counselor
was both race-neutral and the reason for the strike (“given
that one of the plaintiffs’ witnesses was a counselor, I think
also is a contributing factor for both sides whether you want
the individual or don’t”), satisfying both the second and third
Batson steps. The court’s determination that Juror 10’s occu-
pation was the reason for the strike was a factual finding that
Juror 10 was not struck based on her race. In other words, the
judge did not merely repeat the non-racial reason but credited
it for the strike. That finding was not clearly erroneous. The
majority is sending this case back for the district judge to tell
us what he already has: that the defense struck Juror 10 be-
cause of her occupation, not her race. Remand is unnecessary,
and so I respectfully dissent from that decision.