Supreme Court clarifies standard for racial bias claims

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court made it easier Monday for California defendants to claim racial bias in jury selection. Justices sided with a black man who was convicted of killing his white girlfriend’s baby. The jury was all white. Jay Shawn Johnson argued that prosecutors’ dismissal of potential black jurors was unconstitutional under a 1986 Supreme Court ruling that prohibits racially discriminatory uses of peremptory challenges “The issue in this case is narrow but important,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the 8-1 decision. He said that the California legal standard for jury bias claims, that a defendant must show that “it is more likely than not” that prosecutors discriminated in selecting jurors, is at odds with the 1986 case, Batson v. Kentucky. In a dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas said a state has “broad discretion to craft its own rules of criminal procedure.” Johnson, who was convicted in 1998, wins an opportunity for a new trial. He has maintained that the child’s death was accidental. In his trial, prosecutors excused three potential jurors who were black, using “peremptory challenges” that allow attorneys for both sides to dismiss a certain number of jurors without giving a reason. The case is Johnson v. California, 04-6964.