Supreme Court throws out death sentence from all-white jury

[The Straight Story]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled decisively in favor of a death-row inmate in Georgia on Monday, chastising state prosecutors for improperly keeping African-Americans off the jury that convicted him of killing a white woman.

The justices ruled 7-1 in favor of death row inmate Timothy Tyrone Foster in underscoring the importance of rules they laid out in 1986 to prevent racial discrimination in the selection of juries.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court that Georgia "prosecutors were motivated in substantial part by race" when they struck African-Americans from the jury pool.

But the court did nothing to limit peremptory strikes, lawyers' ability to reject potential jurors without offering any reason. The late Thurgood Marshall once said that racial discrimination would persist in jury selection unless peremptory strikes were curtailed.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/07d41c5db5bb4123bfa6fc8340de5c8f/supreme-court-throws-out-death-sentence-all-white-jury

[still_one]

1. and Thomas was the one judge that disented. What a asshole

[underpants]

3. Yep and yep

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, saying he would have respected the decisions of state judges who sided with prosecutors and rejected Foster's claims.

[The Straight Story]

6. No shock there, he is indeed an asshole (nt)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. The single dissenter was Clarence Thomas.

Go figure.

I didn't think he was capable of coming up with a dissent on his own without Scalia to move the pen for him.

[underpants]

5. I wouldn't be surprised to hear a "still voting for Scalia" argument

As in, until he is replaced Clarence should get two votes because he just knows how Scalia would have voted.

Speaking of Georgia - then Gov. Carter tried to end the practice of voting for ones dead spouse. The political bosses didn't like his idea because those dead voters were part of the number they could promise to deliver --- and get some consideration from the candidate. They came to an agreement, people could still vote for their dead spouse until the next Presidential election after their passing. Seriously. I heard him tell that story once and it was hilarious.

[napi21]

4. Has Thomas not looked into a mirror?

Did he forget he's BLACK? I know he's always sided with Scalia, but I'm not really sure Scalia would have agreed with him. I'm thinking it might have been a unanimous vote.

[arely staircase]

10. You give Scania too much credit.

It would have been 7-2 if God hadn't struck AS down.

[Tsiyu]

7. Please donate to the Southern Center for Human Rights

They handled this case, and they are making a difference in the South little by little.

One of my own is an attorney there fighting for the least of these.

The district attorney in Tyrone's case had copious notes from his staff where race was overwhelmingly noted, and racist comments and descriptions were used in selecting jurors. It's so blatant in the South, they didn't think they had to hide it. But this time, someone called Georgia on their shit.

Convict a person fairly, Georgia. Is that so hard to do? I know most whites in the South hate brown skin, I know, I know. You make it abundantly clear, all of you who fit the bill. Constantly. You may have just been robbed by a White guy, but you will still blame Obama.

But you all Southern Caucasians can still follow the law, cant you?

And Clarence Thomas? What a complete tool. he is a caricature of a person, a cartoon. Full of shit, too.

[TipTok]

8. Is there any question that he did it?

[Tsiyu]

9. He admits to the crime

The jury selection/sentencing aspect was where the discrimination took place.

No, he's not a great guy, and he needs to be locked away, but his punishment should be based on what a fair and impartial jury determines to be appropriate.

What if we selected a jury of cop-haters, or of those who always dislike or distrust cops, to determine the sentencing for a law enforcement officer accused of killing a woman? It would not be an impartial jury, would it?

Now, being white does not automatically make one a racist, but the DA and his staff showed through their correspondence about jury selection that they were making their picks almost SOLELY on the races of the defendant and the jurors.

That's wrong and shows they were looking for a biased jury.