Tag: batson challenge
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Appeals court finds no discrimination in dismissals of jurors of color across 3 cases
Colorado’s second-highest court recently agreed prosecutors did not unconstitutionally remove jurors of color in three criminal cases for racial reasons. The Court of Appeals encountered significant variation in how the trial judges approached the prosecution’s dismissal of each juror. One judge explained the circumstances at length, one judge gave virtually no explanation and the third…
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Appeals court rejects allegations of racial discrimination in jury selection in 2 cases
Colorado’s second-highest court ruled last month that prosecutors in two cases did not engage in intentional racial discrimination when they dismissed two women of color from the jury pool. Under longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, purposeful race-based discrimination in jury selection is unconstitutional. Normally, parties may exercise “peremptory strikes” of jurors without citing a reason.…
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Appeals court upholds dismissal of Black juror for negative experiences with police
Colorado’s second-highest court agreed earlier this month that an Arapahoe County prosecutor did not remove a Black woman from a jury because of her race, even though she had explicitly attributed her prior negative interactions with police to “the color of my skin.” Under longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, intentional race-based discrimination in jury selection…
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Colorado Supreme Court lays out frustration with current method of ID’ing racial bias in jury selection
Colorado’s justices escalated their frustration on Monday with the existing framework for evaluating race-motivated dismissals of jurors in criminal trials, months after the state Supreme Court also invited lawmakers to do their part to fix the problem. Under longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, intentional race-based discrimination in jury selection is unconstitutional. Normally, parties may exercise…
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Is Colorado’s Supreme Court about to kill implicit bias reform?
Last year, the Colorado Supreme Court indicated it would first decide a handful of pending cases alleging racial bias in jury selection before it took action on a proposal that would make it more difficult for prosecutors to remove jurors of color for reasons that, while not explicitly racial, nonetheless correlate to race. On Monday,…
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Colorado justices nudge legislature to take action to combat racial bias in jury selection
In a major pair of decisions on Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court simultaneously found Arapahoe County prosecutors provided non-racial reasons for removing jurors of color from two criminal trials, but that judges failed to adequately determine whether those reasons were credible. Further, three of the seven justices, with seeming support from the other four, suggested…
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Colorado justices vent about difficulty of evaluating racial bias in jury selection
Members of the Colorado Supreme Court last week expressed frustration with the difficulties of pinpointing unconstitutional racial bias in jury selection, especially when relatively few details are available after the fact about what happened at trial. “We’re trying to guess what’s in someone’s mind, someone’s heart, even when they may not be aware of it,…
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Appeals court warns that prosecutor’s comments about her, victims’ race were improper
Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday agreed an Arapahoe County prosecutor did not intentionally dismiss a Hispanic juror for race-based reasons, but her attempt to justify the removal by citing her own race and the race of the victims was improper. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals noted the prosecutor, in dismissing the Hispanic…
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Colorado justices conflicted about using views on police bias to remove jurors of color
For two hours on Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court grappled with a question that could significantly affect the composition of juries going forward: If a juror of color, based on her experiences, says that bias in policing exists, would removing that person from the jury pool be tantamount to dismissing her because of her race?…
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Appeals court finds no racial discrimination in jury selection for Weld, Adams County trials
Colorado’s second-highest court last month concluded prosecutors in Weld and Adams counties did not purposefully remove multiple Hispanic jurors from a pair of criminal trials because of their race or ethnicity. Under longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, intentional race-based discrimination in jury selection is unconstitutional. If a prosecutor tries to dismiss a juror of color,…