| JEFFERSON PARISH, LA
- September 23 - “Prosecutors from the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s office choose to strike African-American prospective jurors at more than three times the rate at which they strike white prospective jurors.” A report released by the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center revealed today.
The shocking revelation came in hearings for Edward Harris, a young African-American man facing capital charges in the Parish. In December 1995, Harris, then 19-years old, was convicted and sentenced to death; but in June 2002, the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed his conviction because lead prosecutor, Caren Morgan deliberately struck African-Americans from the jury. The Court described the prosecutor’s explanation for the exclusion of black people from the jury as “simply a pretext” and found that “the state sought to dismiss jurors in this case, based solely on race.” This was added to claims that the state had concealed evidence and allowed perjured evidence.
Prompted by the Harris case, the LCAC’s study of 23,000 jurors and over 500 trials has now proven that:
• Jefferson Parish prosecutors strike blacks from juries at more than three times the rate they strike whites - this has become known as “Black Striking”
• More than 20% of felony trials in the parish have no black jurors at all. This is so even though 23% of the people in the parish are African-American.
• With unanimous verdicts in only capital trials, there are not enough black’s to effect the outcome of trials on 80% of juries in the parish.
This study follows on the heels of the infamous case of Thomas Miller-El in Texas. In February 2003 the US Supreme Court ordered a new hearing for Miller-El after being provided with evidence that the Dallas County District Attorney’s office in Texas was deliberately striking African-Americans from juries.
Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office was in the national press earlier this year when two white prosecutors wore ties bearing a noose and a grim reaper to the death penalty trial of a black eighteen year old. The District Attorney’s office has also been criticized for their handling of the case of Ryan Matthews, a 17-year old black youth sentenced to death, only to have DNA evidence discovered proving that another man committed the crime. Last month it became the only jurisdiction in America to have a (black) man on death row for rape. Of the 28 people on Jefferson Parish’s death row 19 are black and the others were all sentenced for killing whites.
At Jefferson Parish Courthouse, Tuesday September 23, 2003, 09:30am CT, the court will hear expert evidence of the study and its findings.
Media Backgrounder
In Louisiana's most notoriously racist parish, prosecutors are keeping African-Americans from serving on juries. We expose the shameful truth.
"He's a single black male on the [jury] panel... He was black...and I don't want him identifying with the defendant"
[Caren Morgan, Lead prosecutor in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; in State v. Edward Harris]
In the most comprehensive study of its kind ever undertaken, we have now analyzed over 500 trials and over 23,000 potential jurors from the last decade in Jefferson Parish, a bedroom suburban community of New Orleans.
The Systemic Exclusion of African-Americans from Juries by Jefferson Parish Prosecutors
When selecting a jury in a criminal trial prosecutors are allowed to use a maximum of twelve "peremptory strikes" to exclude potential jurors at their discretion. The one major rule is that peremptory challenges may not be used solely on the basis of race. Following our comprehensive examination of prosecutorial jury selection practices, we can reveal results that are nothing short of startling:
o Prosecutors in Jefferson Parish strike African-Americans off juries at more than three times the rate that they strike whites.
o More than 20% of felony trials in the parish have no African-American jurors at all. This is so even though 23% of the people in the parish are black.
o With majority verdicts in all but capital trials, there are not enough African-Americans to effect the outcome of trials on 80% of juries in the parish.
Website Launched to Expose Exclusion of People of Color
The results of this study have been published at a new website, www.blackstrikes.com., which is being launched on September 23, 2003. Media can preview the site from 4pm September 22, using the ID: Media and password: Media. The website offers readers comprehensive figures and aims to highlight individual prosecutors in Jefferson Parish - some of whom strike African-Americans at more than five times the rate that they strike whites. The website aims to continually tally the strike rates of prosecutors. It also has a media resources page with reports, media releases, pictures and other downloads.
Developments Nationwide
The United States Supreme Court has recognized the fundamental right of defendants to be tried by a jury of their peers. Moreover it has been quick to criticize efforts of prosecutors to disenfranchise African-Americans by excluding them from sitting on juries. In February of this year, the court ruled in the case of Thomas Miller-El that racist conduct in the selection of jurors, however underhanded, is simply unacceptable. They ordered Miller-El a new hearing.
The LCAC study proves that Louisiana has become the epicenter of the national battle to ensure that citizens are not to be excluded from juries solely on the basis of the color of their skin.
Reaction to the Report
"The exclusion of people of color from full participation in jury service is a serious civil rights violation," says Kim Taylor Thompson, a national expert in the role of race in criminal juries. "Not only does it undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system, it is also likely to create juries more prone to error because of the lack of participation from diverse communities. This is of particular concern in Louisiana where the use of majority verdicts means that any reduction in the number of people of color on juries can serve to exclude the voice of the African American community as a whole." Taylor-Thompson is Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law: kim.taylor.thompson@nyu.edu.
The ACLU of Louisiana has confirmed its opposition to the use of race in jury selection. The Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana, Joe Cooks, may be contacted for comment. Ph. (504) 522 0628.
The Case of Edward Harris:
In December 1995, Edward Harris was convicted and sentenced to death in Jefferson Parish. In June of 2002, the Supreme Court reversed his case because of the lead prosecutor's belief that African-Americans should not sit on juries. Her reasoning for excluding one juror was that "He's a single black male on the [jury] panel... He was black...and I don't want him identifying with the defendant". Indeed, such egregious prosecutorial misconduct was deserved of special mention in a recent study undertaken by the Center for Public Integrity: "Harmful Error: Investigating America's Local Prosecutors". See the Louisiana listing at their website (www.publicintegrity.org)
In preparation for a new trial, his attorneys have filed a motion to prevent the Jefferson Parish District Attorney's from attempting to prosecute Edward Harris once more. A hearing on this motion will take place on Tuesday 23rd September, 2003, 9:30am, at Jefferson Parish courthouse. A press conference will be held immediately afterward.
Lawyers on the case will present startling evidence demonstrating blatant and deliberate misconduct by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office. Harris's lawyers will show that the prosecution failed to turn over impeachment evidence, failed to turn over favorable evidence, failed to correct testimony it new to be untrue, and made allegations which were directly contradicted by the documents it held secreted in its possession.
The Conduct of Jefferson Parish District Attorneys:
o In January 2003, capital prosecutors in the Parish admitted wearing ties clearly displaying the grim reaper and a noose to court in the death penalty case of an African-American teenager. Their tasteless and racially insensitive conduct brought them international condemnation.
o Ryan Matthews is an innocent man who is currently languishing on Louisiana's death row at Angola. Irrefutable DNA evidence leads to another man convicted of a separate murder in the same area. Convicted in Jefferson Parish, Ryan Matthews' story is a very timely resume of the arbitrariness of the death penalty. He is young, mentally retarded, black, innocent and a juvenile when convicted.
o Despite the United States Supreme Court's express belief that the death penalty should only be applied when there is the death of the victim, Jefferson Parish District Attorney's office last month secured a death sentence for Patrick Kennedy. In the first death sentence of its kind in over quarter of a century, Kennedy, an African-American, was sentenced to death for raping a child.
o Every single person ever prosecuted for the death penalty in Jefferson Parish has either been a minority, or has been prosecuted for killing white victims.
A History of Racism in Jefferson Parish:
o In 1897 three white men pulled William Oliver from the Amesville jail and killed him. The papers of the day said that the murder added "another stain to the already scarlet record of Jefferson Parish."
o Amidst growing racial tension in the 1980's, Jefferson Parish built a wall separating them from the predominantly African-American community of the neighboring Orleans parish. Bulldozers were brought in to bring the wall down.
o In 1987, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee ordered that his deputies routinely stop-and-search African-Americans in white communities.
o In 1991, David Duke, America's most notorious right-wing extremist discovered political success in Jefferson Parish by winning a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Jefferson Parish gave him their vote in his race for Governor of Louisiana, though he failed in the votes statewide.
###
|
