Death Row Conviction Overturned Over Race

Death Row Conviction Overturned Over Race
Supreme Court Cites Jury Selection Bias

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 13, 2005; 3:18 PM

The Supreme Court ruled today that prosecutors in a Texas murder trial unfairly kept blacks off a jury that convicted a black man in 1986 and sentenced him to death.

The 6-3 decision overturned an appeals court ruling in the case of Thomas Miller-El, who was found guilty of the execution-style murder of a 25-year-old motel clerk during a robbery near Dallas in November 1985.

In a separate decision, the Supreme Court today also sided with a black defendant in California who claimed that jury selection in his case was racially biased, resulting in his conviction on charges he killed his white girlfriend's baby.

In both cases, the underlying issue was prosecutors' use of "peremptory challenges" to dismiss a limited number of jurors without giving a reason. The court did not rule in either case on the constitutionality of such challenges, but Justice Stephen G. Breyer, in a concurring opinion in the Texas case, wrote that "the peremptory challenge system as a whole" should be reconsidered.

excerpts from the article:

In an 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Johnson on what Justice Stevens wrote was a "narrow but important" issue. He said California's legal standard for claims of bias in jury selection was at odds with a 1986 Supreme Court ruling that bars the racially discriminatory use of peremptory challenges.

Justice Thomas was the lone dissenter. He argued that a state such as California has "broad discretion to craft its own rules of criminal procedure."

Johnson, who has claimed the baby's death was accidental, receives an opportunity for a new trial as a result of today's ruling.

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