I have read of convictions being overturned when a black person was convicted by an all-white jury. But what happens when the all-white jury reflects the local population? The reason I ask is that an Asian man is currently on trial here for murder, and it’s a pretty safe bet, the state being 99% white, that his jury is all white. Can he get a fair trial? Does he have grounds for appeal?
Probably not. But there is no such thing as a fair trial. There is no automatic way to switch off prejudices/bias during jury deliberations. Only the appearance. As long as the jury appears fair, that’s the end of the story.
Convictions have been overturned when prosecutors used racial criteria to strike jurors, which is impermissible under a Supreme Court decision called Batson v. Kentucky.
If a jury pool is drawn using race-neutral procedures, and selected using race-neutral criteria, it does not have to be racially diverse to be constitutional.
- Rick