Supremes Send Conviction Back to Texas
Tuesday June 14, 2005
On Monday the US Supreme Court remanded a 20-year-old murder conviction back to the state of Texas because of racial bias in jury selection. At issue is the use of
peremptory challenges (no need to show cause) to eliminate potential jurors from the jury pool. In 1986, the Supreme Court barred prosecutors using race as a factor when disqualifying potential jurors. In this case, prosecutors kept
10 of 11 qualified blacks off of the jury panel. A Dallas Morning News investigation of 100 court cases showed that Texas prosecutors removed 92 percent of blacks with peremptory strikes.
Since 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, Texas has led the nation in death row executions.
The chart at the right shows 1997-2004 executions broken down by red and blue states. Red state executions per million population is an order of magnitude greater than blue state executions (46.4 v 4.5). During that eight-year period, Texas accounted for 38 percent of all red state executions and 36 percent of all US executions. [Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, tip to reader B. Morris]
States with the death penalty: Alabama Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
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Since 1976, when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, Texas has led the nation in death row executions.
The chart at the right shows 1997-2004 executions broken down by red and blue states. Red state executions per million population is an order of magnitude greater than blue state executions (46.4 v 4.5). During that eight-year period, Texas accounted for 38 percent of all red state executions and 36 percent of all US executions. [Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, tip to reader B. Morris]
States with the death penalty: Alabama Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
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