Revealed records have suggested Californian prosecutors deliberately excluded Black and Jewish jurors from trials in the 1990s.
This has resulted in 35 death penalty cases being reviewed by the California district attorney’s office.
Almada county district attorney Pamela Price announced on Monday that they had uncovered notes written by former prosecutors which documented discriminatory jury selection procedures used.
US judge Vince Chhabria, who is overseeing a case that led to the discovery of the misconduct has directed Price’s office to conduct a review of the other cases.
“Notes – especially when considered in conjunction with evidence presented in other cases – constitute strong evidence that, in prior decades, prosecutors from the office were engaged in a pattern of serious misconduct, automatically excluding Jewish and African American jurors in death penalty cases,” Chhabria wrote in an order.
Excerpts of the prosecutors’ notes which were found during the appeal case of Ernest Dykes, who was sentenced to death in 1995, show prosecutors noted when jurors were suspected to be Jewish.
This prompted further investigation into other cases around the same time.
In another record, a Black woman was referred to by a prosecutor as a “short, fat, troll”. Another prosecutor said when regarding another Black woman “race is no issue, but I don’t believe her”. These prosecutors have not been named.
Price said the conduct from some prosecutors likely violated defendants’ right to a fair trial.
“I’m mandated to root out unethical behaviour,” he said. “This is about ethics. To ensure every person charged with a crime receives a fair trial. It appears that certain prosecutors in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office intentionally excluded Black and Jewish jurors.”
Some of the families of the 35 victims have been notified of the review as it could lead to the resentencings or retrials of convicted murderers.
Photo: Modoc County Courthouse, Alturas, California by Ken Lund is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons Licence. This image has not been modified.
