Last session the U.S. Supreme Court tackled the issue of
racial discrimination in the selection process of juries. This session the Court will face questions about how to deal with racial discrimination among members of the jury itself. Kenneth Jost over at the Jost on Justice Blog provides
a nice summary of the case:
Miguel Angelo Peña Rodriguez was convicted in 2007 of groping two
teenaged sisters in a darkened bathroom at a Colorado race track. The
evidence in the brief trial consisted of little more than the girls’
identification — first in a roadside “showup” and then in court. The
defense lawyer challenged the identification on a variety of well
recognized grounds. Peña denied the accusation and was backed up by a
fellow Hispanic who said the two were together in one of the race
track’s barns at the time of the offense.
The jury deliberated for 12 hours before convicting Peña of three
misdemeanor counts but acquitting him of a more serious felony charge.
In juror interviews after the verdict, his lawyer gathered affidavits
from two members of the jury that one of the jurors had made a number of
blatantly racist statements during deliberations about Peña and his
alibi witness. None of the jurors had volunteered any racial prejudices
during jury selection.
Reuters has more about
how the Justices reacted to this case during oral arguments earlier this month.
