US Supreme Court has reversed the conviction of a Mississippi death row inmate who said the state prosecutor repeatedly kicked black people off the jury each time he was tried for the same murders.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday reversed the conviction of a Mississippi death row inmate who said the state prosecutor repeatedly kicked black people off the jury each time he was tried for the same murders.
The decision was a victory for Curtis Flowers, who is black. He was tried six times for the 1996 murder of four furniture store employees in Winona, Mississippi where he had recently worked. Of the first five trials, one conviction was thrown out over questions about evidence and two resulted in mistrials.
Kavanaugh said that in the six trials combined, the prosecutor moved to strike 41 of the 42 black prospective jurors and"engaged in dramatically disparate questioning of black and white prospective jurors."When a jury is being selected, lawyers for each side are allowed to exclude a certain number for potential bias or other cause. But they are also allowed to make peremptory strikes, which require no explanation.
When the case was argued in March, Justice Clarence Thomas broke his three-year courtroom silence by asking a few questions. He wanted to know if the defense lawyers used any peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors. Told that they did, Thomas asked,"And what was the race of the jurors struck there?" The answer: only whites.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Bolsonaro’s Conservative Agenda Is Tested in Brazilian Supreme CourtWhen Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January, he promised to defend what he calls traditional-family values, loosen gun laws and push the nation to the right after decades of mostly leftist rule. But six months into Mr. Bolsonaro’s administration, the Supreme Court is proving to be a powerful obstacle to his conservative agenda.
Read more »
Supreme Court bolsters rights for developers and property owners in California and elsewhereThe Supreme Court’s conservative majority gave a major boost to property rights, ruling that developers and landowners may go directly to federal court and seek compensation for a “taking” of their property.
Read more »
Supreme Court set to decide major census, electoral maps casesThe U.S. Supreme Court, approaching the end of its current term, is due to issue...
Read more »
How the Supreme Court Just Flipped the Script in VirginiaVirginia’s 66th District is arguably the precise epicenter of the nation’s political wars—and this week, the Supreme Court tilted it toward the Democrats
Read more »
Census, redistricting top remaining Supreme Court casesThe Supreme Court enters its final week of decisions with two politically charged issues unresolved, whether to rein in political line-drawing for partisan gain and allow a citizenship question on the 2020 census.
Read more »