After 30 Years, Race-Biased Conviction Overturned

Striking potential jurors based on race is unconstitutional, reaffirming earlier Supreme Court ruling preventing the use of race in jury selection

Foster v. Chatman, 2016 BL 162869, U.S., No. 14-8349, reversed and remanded 5/23/16

 

    The United States Supreme Court ruled that peremptory jury strikes motivated by race are impermissible, reaffirming the court’s 1986 ruling in Batson v. Kentucky.  Annotations along names of black jurors, such as “Definite No” and “No. No Black Church” were “as clear as a Batson violation as a court is ever going to see.”

    

   The Supreme Court focused on two jurors who were stricken. The state offered 11 neutral, non-race based reasons for striking the first juror and eight reasons for the second juror. The Court, however, found the reasons unconvincing and merely suggested pretext. In the opinion, the Court notes the “focus on race in the prosecution’s file plainly demonstrates a concerted effort to keep black prospective jurors off the jury.” 

http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/Foster_v_Chatman_No_148349_2016_BL_162869_US_May_23_2016_Court_Op

 

Murder Retrial Barred Because Gun Thrown Out In Other Case

Man cannot be prosecuted for murder when the prosecutor's theory was that he shot the victim with a gun that he had been acquitted of owning in a prior trial.

In re Moi, 2015 BL 356241, Wash., No. 89706-9, 1029/15

    The defendant was charged with murder. Relatedly, but stemming from a juvenile conviction, the defendant was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. Because of the unusual situation, the parties agreed to let the judge decide the gun charge, and to have the jury decide the homicide charge.

     The jury could not reach a verdict on the homicide charge and a mistrial was declared. The trial judge acquitted the defendant of the unlawful possession of a weapon charge. The court ruled that the firearm acquittal bars retrial for the murder charge as a matter of collateral estoppel.

     The court reinforced its decision with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in Commonwealth v. States, 938 A.2d 1016 (Pa. 2007). In that decision, the court determined that there was a double jeopardy bar to retrial because there had been mistrial after a hung jury could not make a decision, and the trial court judge had acquitted the defendant on a related charge upon which the remaining counts depended.

http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/In_re_Moi_No_897069_2015_BL_356241_Wash_Oct_29_2015_Court_Opinion?1448121178