California judge orders review of Alameda County death penalty cases after Black and Jewish jurors' potential exclusion
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said all of the California county’s death penalty cases are under review after a member of her office found evidence that prosecutors in a 30-year-old case had excluded Black and Jewish people from the jury.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said all of the California county’s death penalty cases are under review after a member of her office found evidence that prosecutors in a 30-year-old case had excluded Black and Jewish people from the jury.
“When you intentionally exclude people based on their race, their religion, their gender or any protected category, it violates the Constitution,” Price said at a news conference Monday. “The evidence that we have uncovered suggests plainly that many people did not receive a fair trial in Alameda County.”
Price said she was acting at the direction of U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who is hearing an appeal for Ernest Dykes. Dykes was sentenced to death in 1995 after being convicted of the attempted murder of Bernice Clark and the murder of her 9-year-old grandson Lance Clark during an attempted robbery in 1993. He won a stay of execution in 2011 and has argued that he wasn’t afforded the opportunity of a fair trial.
While reviewing Dykes’ case file, a deputy district attorney from Price’s office found handwritten notes by prosecutors that appear to show they had intentionally excluded Jewish and Black female jurors from the jury pool, Price said in a statement, adding that the notes were promptly disclosed to the defense and Chhabria.
In an order filed Monday, Chhabria said Price’s office, “consistent with its legal and ethical obligations,” had shown him and Dykes’ attorneys notes from jury selection from the prosecutors at Dykes’ trial.
Rating: 5