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A Legacy From Dallas' Past

By Steve Hall

"Federal appeals court orders new trial for black suspect," is the title of Steve McGonigle's report in today's Dallas Morning News.Dallas County's long history of racial discrimination in jury selection added a chapter from a new era this week.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for Cecil Keith Hayes, a black man from Mesquite who was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 70 years in prison by a nearly all-white Dallas jury in 2002.A three-judge panel concluded that prosecutors illegally struck two qualified black prospective jurors during jury selection and then tried to disguise their intentions to seat an all-white jury.Unlike previous court findings of jury discrimination in Dallas County, Tuesday's ruling focuses on a case decided almost two decades after a landmark Supreme Court decision that prohibited biased practices...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on January 21, 2010 (boomark / email).