[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KAN., NEB., UTAH, CALIF., ORE., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 24



KANSAS:

Freed man says Kansas should end the death penalty


A man who spent nearly 16 years in prison for a rape and killing to which his 
brother confessed wants Kansas to pull the plug on the death penalty.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 39-year-old Floyd Bledsoe shared his 
story over the weekend in the basement of a Lawrence church.

Bledsoe never faced the death penalty himself. But he was sentenced to life in 
prison after he was convicted of raping and killing 14-year-old Camille 
Arfmann. He was released in December after a DNA test and suicide notes 
indicated his brother, Tom Bledsoe, killed Arfmann.

Bledsoe says the court system is flamed and questioned what would have happened 
if he had been sentenced to death.

Kansas hasn't executed anyone since it reinstated capital punishment in 1994.

(source: Associated Press)

**************

The Death Penalty in Kansas


More than 9 years after the murder of their daughter, the parents of Jodi 
Sanderholm are speaking out to KSN News, as the execution of the man convicted 
in her murder, remains very much in doubt.

Jodi Sanderholm was 19 years old when she was murdered in Ark City, Kansas.Jodi 
Sanderholm was 19 years old when she was murdered in Ark City, Kansas.

"I'm sure she, Jodi, pleaded for her life and he didn't give it to her," said 
Cindy Sanderholm, Jodi's mother. "She didn't get a 2nd choice. She didn't get a 
2nd chance," she added.

Arkansas City-native, Justin Eugene Thurber was 25-years-old when he was 
sentenced to death in the murder of Sanderholm. Prosecutors said Thurber had a 
habit of stalking young women. They said Thurber followed the Cowley County 
College dancer home, abducted her, beat and raped her, then strangled her to 
death.

For Cindy and Brian Sanderholm, life since their daughter's murder has never 
been the same.

"She was just a very smart, talented little girl," said Cindy.

Brian and Cindy Sanderholm sat down with KSN's Brittany Glas to discuss the 
death penalty process in Kansas.

Jodi's parents say they feel as though they were robbed of a life with their 
young daughter, who they said, had a promising future.

"To me, she's always 19, and so, when I see her friends and they're getting 
older, it's like, 'Gosh, what would she be doing?' 'What would she be like?' 
Lots of ifs," added Cindy.

"We suffered through it this long," said Brian Sanderholm, the father of murder 
victim, Jodi Sanderholm. "It's time for you [Thurber] to suffer."

Inmates Serving Death in Kansas

Thurber is now 1 of 10 inmates in the state of Kansas serving death sentences. 
They are all on Kansas' version of "death row" at El Dorado Correctional 
Facility, where they are housed on 'Administrative Segregation' status.

--Justin Eugene Thurber ----Convicted for 2007 murder of Jodi Sanderholm near 
Arkansas City.

--Frazier Glenn Cross Jr. (aka Frazier Cross) ----Convicted for 2014 killing of 
William Corporon, Reat Underwood and Terri LaManno in Kansas City.

--Gary Wayne Kleypas ----Convicted of 1996 raping and killing 20-year-old 
Carrie Williams in Pittsburg.

--James Kraig Kahler ----Convicted for 2009 murder of Karen Kahler; daughters 
Lauren and Emily Kahler and Karen Kahler's grandmother, Dorothy Wight in 
Burlingame.

--John Edward Robinson, Sr. ----Capital conviction for 1999 killing of Izabela 
Lewicka and the 2000 death of Suzette Trouten. He is accused of killing 7 
women.

--Scott Dever Cheever ----Convicted for 2005 shooting of Greenwood County 
Sheriff Matt Samuels during a drug raid.

--Sidney John Gleason ----Convicted for 2004 murder of Miki Martinez and Darren 
Wornkey in Great Bend.

--Johnathan Daniel Carr ----The Carr brothers were convicted for the 2000 
murders of Brad Heyka, Heather Muller, Aaron Sander and Jason Befort in 
Wichita.

--Reginald Dexter Carr, Jr. ----The Carr brothers were convicted for the 2000 
murders of Brad Heyka, Heather Muller, Aaron Sander and Jason Befort in 
Wichita.

--Kyle Trevor Flack ----Convicted for 2013 murders of Kaylie Bailey, Lana 
Bailey, Andrew Stout and Steven White near Ottawa.

A KSN Investigation concludes it is very likely that Jodi Sanderholm's killer, 
along with the nine other inmates on our state's 'death row,' may never be 
executed in the state of Kansas. This, due to the fact that Kansas' processes 
are either non-existent, or designed to not carry out the sentence.

In fact, it has been so long since Kansas has executed an inmate with a death 
sentence that it has become clear that the people responsible for carrying out 
the sentence don't seem to know exactly what to do, or how to do it.

Since Kansas reinstated the death penalty in 1994, 22 years ago, no one has 
been executed. The last time someone was executed in our state was 1965, by 
hanging.

KSN went straight to the Kansas Department of Corrections to find out why.

"We haven't executed anyone in that time frame, and there's no time table to 
have any other future executions," said Adam Pfannenstiel, the Communications 
Spokesperson for KDOC.

That's right ... The state of Kansas doesn't have a plan on how to execute any 
of the 10 inmates on 'death row.'

Hearing this infuriates the family of Jodi Sanderholm.

"I really figured they had a plan," said Cindy Sanderholm.

"I think it's a little shocking that Kansas reinstated the death penalty over 
20 years ago, and there's not a plan yet," said Jennifer Aldridge, Jodi's older 
sister. "I thought this would have been something that would have been 
discussed 20 years ago when it was reinstated."

So then, what accounts for the delay?

Average number of years between sentencing and execution.Average number of 
years between sentencing and execution.

The Appeals Process

First, the appeals process takes time ... in Kansas and across the United 
States.

In the past 30 years, the average time between sentence to execution grew in 
the U.S. from just over 6 years per inmate to 15.5 years.

However, Kansas is approaching 22 years without an execution ever.

Regional analysis, time from sentence to executionRegional analysis, time from 
sentence to execution

Kansas' neighboring states, in the meantime, average nearly 1/2 that time: 12 
years.

Our KSN Investigation learned that even when an appeals process is exhausted, 
the state is not prepared for what comes next - whether that be the actual 
order of execution and/or the act of carrying out the execution sentence.

KSN sat down with Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

"Unlike some of our neighboring states, like Oklahoma, Missouri, that have had 
a death penalty law on the books longer, that have cases that have moved 
through the system further, that have actually reached the point of carrying 
out executions, Kansas isn't there yet," said Derek Schmidt.

"Nobody knows, with certainty, what step would follow, but I am certain we 
would be closely involved in the legalities if that were to come. That's not 
imminent in any of the cases," continued the Attorney General.

Because no executions are imminent, the Department of Corrections in Kansas, 
the entity which would carry out the order, has no process, no time-table, and 
no injection drugs in stock to fulfill any execution orders.

"There's no plans, no intentions to execute anyone," said Adam Pfannenstiel, 
with the KDOC. "We'll be prepared when someone tells us that it's time, but, I 
couldn't even predict when that would be."

Concerning injection drugs, Pfannenstiel said, "There's no reason for us to 
have a supply or a supplier, at this time because there's no need for it."

The Sanderholms are frustrated with a lack of preparation on the part of our 
state and what it means concerning the seriousness of Kansas statute.

"It's wrong that we, as a state, have a law on the books that says, 'If you 
commit this crime, this is the punishment that you're going to get,' and then, 
we turn around and don't issue the punishment," explained Jodi's father, Brian. 
"Well ... we need to change the law. Don't have it on the books."

While the family members of victims like Jodi Sanderholm say the process is too 
long, the Attorney General tells KSN News regardless, it is the process.

"There's no way to move a death penalty case at lightning speed," said Schmidt. 
"We can do better than we're doing, but, it's not going to be a rapid process."

The Financial Factors

While the Sanderholm Family is impacted in a painful and very personal way 
after losing their daughter, the state of Kansas and taxpayers in our state are 
all impacted by the process, or lack thereof. In fact, for an inmate serving 
time at El Dorado, the average annual cost of incarceration is $24,951, as 
documented for Fiscal Year 2015. That number, divided by 365 days of the year, 
equates to $68.36 per day.

However, it costs even more to house inmates serving death sentences and/or 
sentences in Administrative Segregation.

According to a Kansas Legislative Post Audit Committee reported published in 
2014, each of the inmate serving time in Administrative Segregation at El 
Dorado, comes with an annual cost of nearly $49,000.

In fact, the Report of the Judicial Council's Death Penalty Advisory Committee 
states:

"According to the DOC, the average annual cost to house an inmate in 
administrative segregation is $49,380, or double the cost to house an inmate in 
the general population. Administrative segregation is more expensive primarily 
because of the need for more officers per inmate." --p. 13/27 Report of the 
Judicial Council, February 13, 2014

"It hurts me so bad every week when I see my paycheck, and I know I'm paying 
tax money to feed him," said Brian Sanderholm. Court Costs Death Penalty Case

Further, it is not only the cost to house an inmate sentenced to death. 
Taxpayers also pay nearly 4 times the price to prosecute a case where the death 
penalty if pursued by the prosecution - $395,000 per case - compared to only 
$100,000 per case when the death penalty is not sought.

For the Sanderholms, taxes are added insult to an unbearable injury ... and a 
grueling wait for justice in the case of their daughter, Jodi.

"[Death is] what he deserves, and that's what the law stated," said Cindy 
Sanderholm. "So, we need to get the law fixed so we can use it."

"If it was your daughter, your son, it was our daughter, what would you want to 
have happen?" asked Brian Sanderholm.

(source: KSN news)






NEBRASKA:

"Life means Life" is Argument to End Death Penalty


Opponents of the death penalty say it's a broken system, and replacing it with 
a life sentence will guarantee the worst of the worst will remain locked up for 
the rest of their days. Those who want to keep capital punishment, however, 
make the case it remains a just penalty.

If voters retain the law ending the death penalty in Nebraska, it will be 
replaced by a life sentence.

For an example of what that would look like, the case of Randy Reeves may 
apply.

He was sentenced to death, after killing 2 women in Lincoln 35 years ago. In 
1999, he was scheduled to go to the electric chair.

Kurt Mesner remembers, "It came down to within 48 hours of him being executed."

Mesner grew up in Central City with the Reeves, the man who killed his sister 
Janet, and says his Quaker faith is why he has consistently argued against the 
death penalty throughout his family's ordeal.

He said, "We need to turn the other cheek and that's the attitude that I have 
always taken."

Mesner says Reeves' death shows life without parole works.

He said, "I never heard once from anybody bringing up he should be let out of 
prison because they knew he did a horrible crime and was going to die one way 
or the other."

Sen. Colby Coash says if voters end capital punishment, killers on death row 
will never leave prison.

He said, "Hey, life means life. When a judge says you're sentenced to life, 
case law is clear. Parole board has nothing to do with a life sentence."

But the governor, attorney general, and secretary of state can change a 
sentence, as the 3 members of the Board of Pardons, something death penalty 
supporters point out.

Bob Evnen, a Lincoln attorney said, "This happened in our state 3 years ago 
where an inmate who'd been sentenced to life had his sentence commuted and was 
paroled and committed another violent crime."

In the legislature, Coash made the conservative case against what he sees as a 
failed government program.

Death penalty supporters agree there are problems, but say the focus should be 
on being able to carry out an execution. Coash argues after 20 years without an 
execution, and legal obstacles to obtaining lethal injection drugs, that there 
is no reasonable expectation the state can go through with one.

"Do we have to go 30 years before we don't do this, before we say it's broken. 
How many years do we have to go," he said.

Kurt Mesner says public opinion is changing, but thinks his view remains in the 
minority.

"Right now I don't think it has changed enough to retain what the legislature 
passed," he said.

Meanwhile, death penalty supporters say the legislature made a mistake.

Bob Evnen feels most Nebraskans think the legislature is wrong.

He said, "My hope is that the voters of the state will overwhelmingly repeal 
the repeal and that this will send a message to the Unicameral that they need 
to get to work on fixing the system. The big argument to throw out the death 
penalty is the system is broken."

Evnen says the death penalty is needed to protect police officers and punish 
those who are clearly guilty. He is leading the campaign known as Nebraskans 
for the Death Penalty.

(source: nebraska.tv)

*******************

BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR----State senators call Nebraska's death penalty system 
broken beyond repair


Several arguments were advanced on Monday morning by state Sen. Colby Coash of 
Lincoln and state Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island in urging Nebraska voters to 
uphold the action of the Legislature in doing away with the death penalty.

Voters will be asked in November to retain or reject the Legislature's decision 
to abolish the death penalty.

Speaking at a press conference at Nathan Detroit's in Grand Island, both Coash 
and Gloor argued that the system for enforcing the death penalty in Nebraska is 
broken beyond repair.

"Going on next year, it will be 20 years since we've actually used it," Coash 
said of the death penalty. He noted that, when he was elected to the 
Legislature, he promised voters that, if he found government that wasn't 
working, he would do all he could to get rid of it.

"I think the death penalty certainly fit that bill as we debated it," said 
Coash, who served 8 years on the Judiciary Committee. "We looked at this issue 
from all sides ... and our conclusion was this is a system we couldn't fix and 
we were better off without it."

Coash said one question that was raised repeatedly during the Legislature's 
debate last year was what would happen to people serving life in prison if 
Nebraska got rid of the death penalty. "Does that mean that people who have a 
life sentence would now be getting out?"

Coash said he asked the Nebraska attorney general for an opinion on that issue.

"His answer was, 'Life means life,' and a person sentenced to life is not going 
to get out of prison," Coash said.

"Nothing about what the Legislature did changes anything with the parole 
process, and a person sentenced to life is not going to be eligible for 
parole," Coash said. "The only way that a person sentenced to life can ever get 
out of prison is if the attorney general, the governor and the secretary of 
state decide to commute that person's sentence."

Coash said he wants to make sure that all Nebraska voters understand that fact 
before they vote in the November general election.

He said that system of 2 of the top 3 highest elected officials in Nebraska 
needing to cast votes to commute a life sentence could have happened 5 years 
ago when the death penalty was the law in Nebraska, it could happen today when 
there is no death penalty statute, or it could happen a year from now, no 
matter what voters decide in November.

Gloor noted that, for a long time, he supported having the death penalty in 
Nebraska.

"I don't have an ethical problem with the death penalty," Gloor said, which is 
evident from some of his previous votes. "I don't have any religious 
persuasions that influence me."

However, Gloor said he does have a record as a person who can make difficult 
decisions. He supported the death penalty through two rounds of debate last 
year before he changed his mind.

"Why did I change my mind? It became clear to me, for reasons that Sen. Coash 
just pointed out, we???re not going to be able to implement the death penalty," 
he said. "There are a host of reasons behind that. I think we're all familiar 
with the lack of the ability to get the drugs necessary for injection."

However, legal wrangling and the appeals process also make it impossible to 
carry out the death penalty in Nebraska. Gloor said that made him look at the 
"cost associated with what is basically spinning our wheels and saying, this 
makes no sense for the state of Nebraska."

Gloor said he has listened to the surviving family members of murder victims 
who have politely told him that he is not the expert on the death penalty. He 
said those people are the ones who get pulled back into hearings as the state 
attempts to carry out the death penalty.

Gloor said they tell him their decades of experience make them believe Nebraska 
is incapable of carrying out the death penalty.

Some people running for re-election are deliberately stirring up anger and 
vitriol about the death penalty issue without researching how the system 
actually works, he said.

Gloor said he understands the emotional pull of pro-death-penalty arguments, 
because he was once influenced by them. But if state senators were faced with 
any other state system as broken as the death penalty, he said, they would be 
expected to fix it.

Gloor said he hopes people can look at his example and pull away from all the 
emotional arguments surrounding the death penalty and see that it is simply not 
working, which is why it should be abolished.

Regardless of the vote's outcome in November, the death penalty will not be 
carried out, Gloor said. People should learn about the real expenses involved 
in trying to carry out the death penalty. They should hold elected officials 
accountable when they favor the death penalty but are unable to carry it out.

If the death penalty is reinstated, Gloor said, voters must hold 
pro-death-penalty politicians accountable if they fail to carry out the law.

Conversely, Coash wondered if it will take 25 years or 30 years without an 
execution before Nebraska voters believe the system is broken. Citizens were 
told 8 years ago that the "last hurdle" to carrying out the death penalty was 
changing the method to lethal injection, yet no execution has happened since 
then.

Coash said the death penalty's emotional pull is because death row inmates have 
committed horrific crimes and they deserve the death penalty.

"I don't think you have 2 senators up here who disagree with that," he said.

Coash said he has talked to surviving family members who favor the death 
penalty and surviving family members who oppose it. He said families on each 
side are being denied justice by a system in which 2 decades go by and the 
state remains unable to carry out an execution.

(source: Grand Island Independent)






UTAH:

Restaurateur, LGBT pioneer dead; estranged husband arrested


The estranged husband of a well-known Salt Lake City restaurateur and LGBT 
advocate who died in a house fire over the weekend has been arrested on 
suspicion of murder and arson, authorities said.

Craig Crawford, 47, was booked after the blaze on Sunday killed 72-year-old 
John Williams, the owner of the popular Market Street Grill and other 
restaurants.

The fire occurred less than 3 weeks after Williams filed for divorce from 
Crawford and sought a temporary restraining order that was rejected, court 
records show.

No details were available in public documents to reveal what happened with the 
couple or how long they were married.

Detectives say Crawford was in the house near the Utah State Capitol when the 
fire started. He was later seen walking back to the house, but he never called 
authorities to report the blaze, charging documents show.

When firefighters arrived, they heard somebody inside crying for help. They 
found Williams and tried to revive him, but he died at the scene.

It was not clear if Crawford has an attorney yet.

An aggravated murder charge carries the possibility of the death penalty in 
Utah.

Williams' friends and colleagues - many influential city and state leaders - 
expressed shock and dismay about the death of the man they called a great 
businessman and LGBT pioneer who was an instrumental figure in Salt Lake City.

Williams, whose parents were educators in Idaho, came to Utah to go to college 
50 years ago and "changed the fabric" of the community, Utah state Sen. Jim 
Dabakis said in a statement. The buildings he restored in Salt Lake City and 
the restaurants he ran raised standards in the city, Dabakis said.

"The quiet bridges John built between the emerging LGBT community and the Utah 
business world made this a better place for all of us to live," said Dabakis, a 
gay Democrat.

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski, the city's 1st openly gay mayor, said in 
a statement that she's devastated by the loss of her dear friend and local 
hero.

"There are patrons of the arts, sciences and education, but John Williams was a 
patron of our city and helped it become the wonderful place it is today," 
Biskupski said.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Oakland: Defendant asks judge to dismiss jury in death penalty phase of trial


A convicted murderer asked a judge Monday if he could forgo the jury during the 
penalty phase of his trial, in which jurors could recommend a death penalty 
sentence.

In the midst of the penalty phase, which began last week, Darnell Williams 
asked Judge Jeffrey Horner through his attorney Deborah Levy if he could give 
up his right to the jury trial, against the advice of his attorneys. But Horner 
said he would not allow such a waiver.

Williams, 25, was found guilty on May 6 of killing Alaysha Carradine on July 
17, 2013 in Oakland by shooting at her and 2 other children and their 
grandmother through an apartment door. He is said to have wanted to avenge the 
death of his friend, who died earlier that same day. Williams thought the 
killer's ex-girlfriend and children were inside the apartment, prosecutors 
said.

He was also found guilty of killing Anthony Medearis, 22, in Berkeley on Sept. 
8, 2013.

Before the jury arrived in the courtroom Monday morning, members of the 
audience said Williams appeared as if he were crying -- his eyes were red, his 
head was in his hands.

Williams made the request twice. The 1st time asking Horner through his 
attorney if doing so would affect his appeal rights. Horner refused to answer, 
saying it was "highly inappropriate" to give the defendant legal advice.

Horner took about 15 minutes Monday afternoon before returning to the courtroom 
to announce his decision that the jury trial of the penalty phase would 
continue.

If he had decided to dismiss the jury, both the prosecution and defense would 
present evidence to the judge, who would make a sentencing recommendation.

This isn't the 1st time Williams went against his attorney's advice. During the 
criminal trial, he insisted his cellphone be reexamined. When police did, they 
found new photo evidence that linked Williams to the murder weapon used to kill 
Alaysha.

The jury will decide whether to recommend a death penalty sentence, or life in 
prison without the possibility of parole. The penalty trial resumes Tuesday.

(source: eastbaytimes.com)






OREGON:

Gary Haugen Has A New Execution Date, But Oregon's Death Penalty Moratorium 
Remains


It's been almost 20 years since anyone was put to death in Oregon - 54 if you 
don't count death row inmates who gave up their appeals and essentially 
volunteered to be executed.

In fact, when announcing a moratorium on Oregon's death penalty in 2011, 
then-Gov. John Kitzhaber said only those who say they're ready end up being 
executed in Oregon.

"My hope and indeed my intention in taking this action today is to bring about 
a long due reevaluation of our current policy and our current system of capital 
punishment," Kitzhaber said 5 years ago.

Since then, 3 former Oregon chief justices have called for an end to the death 
penalty. But Kitzhaber's hoped-for "reevaluation" has not happened.

After she came to office last year, Gov. Kate Brown said she would assemble a 
panel to look into the death penalty in Oregon. But her press secretary, Brian 
Hockaday, says she's now waiting for recommendations from her staff.

"She has asked general counsel to look into the matter on a national level and 
then report back to her," he said. "And then that report will inform the policy 
direction moving forward."

It's unclear when that report will be finished. Brown has said she'll let 
voters know what she plans to do about capital punishment as governor before 
the election - though she didn't specify which election.

Meanwhile, 34 inmates remain on death row. They're in their cells for 23 hours 
a day and live in a sort of legal limbo.

Take Gary Haugen. He was originally sent to prison at 19 for murdering his 
girlfriend's mother, though he received his death sentence for killing another 
inmate.

Back in 2011, when Kitzhaber declared a moratorium on executions, Haugen said 
he wanted to be put to death.

"Hey, it's hell," he said of prison. "To be away from your family, be away from 
your loved ones, watch all your people die while you sit in this little 9-by-8 
cage."

That was then. Today, Haugen says he doesn't want to die. His lawyer, Jeff 
Ellis, says Haugen and other death-row inmates are being mistreated by the 
state. "The Oregon law says that you can't simply let an execution date go by 
and do nothing," Ellis said. "You have to take some action in court."

In a recent hearing, Judge Vance Day gave Haugen an execution date - Jan. 23, 
2017. But it's not clear whether that will stick.

For one thing, Day relayed the new date orally, not in writing.

For another, it's not clear whether Brown will follow Kitzhaber's lead in 
refusing to let the state carry out death sentences.

"I'm going to fight for my life," Haugen said in a recent telephone interview. 
"I mean not only have I been on the longest reprieve in the history of our 
country, my death warrant expired. And under statute, them doing nothing about 
it means that my sentence expired. And if my sentence expired, why am I still 
sitting on death row?"

As distasteful as people might find Haugen and his crimes, he may have a legal 
point.

In a dissenting opinion, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer recently 
questioned the constitutionality of the death penalty. He said it suffers from 
"unconscionably long delays."

Carrie Leonetti, a University of Oregon School of Law associate professor, 
agrees.

"Coming to terms with your death once would be hard. But coming to terms with 
your death once every 10 years for 30 or 40 years, I can't actually imagine the 
psychological torture," she said.

Still, Aliza Kaplan, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, doesn't think 
Oregon needs to rush to come up with a new execution plan.

"Cases are moving forward, just like they were before the moratorium," she 
said. "There's no likelihood that any of them are going to be executed anytime 
soon."

In a way, the experts say, this legal uncertainty - we have the death penalty, 
but it's unclear whether the governor will continue Kitzhaber's refusal to use 
it - fits Oregon well.

Prosecutors can continue to use the death penalty as a tool, say to convince a 
defendant accused of killing someone to consider a plea deal. At least until 
Brown makes her decision, politicians can continue to embrace a general 
reluctance to put anyone to death.

(source: opb.org)






USA:

The Data That Shows American Juries Are Racially Biased


It's been 30 years since Timothy Foster, a black man, was sentenced to death by 
an all-white jury. Unfortunately, the problem of race in American jury 
selection is still relevant today.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Timothy Foster, a black man sentenced to 
death row in 1987 by an all-white jury, deserves a re-trial. Justices say 
prosecutors in the trial abused their so-called peremptory challenges, the 
limited number of potential jurors who lawyers may dismiss from jury duty 
without stating a reason. According to a landmark ruling from 1986, the state 
may not use peremptory strikes to exclude potential jurors based on race. Yet 
prosecutors selecting the jury for Foster? - who confessed to and was convicted 
of killing an elderly white woman? - dismissed all of the black prospective 
jurors. In 2006, 1 of Foster's attorneys obtained the prosecution's notes, 
which showed they highlighted the black prospective jurors' names, marked them 
with a "B," and ranked them in case "it comes down to having to pick 1 of the 
black jurors."

Foster's case may have been heard nearly 3 decades ago, but it brings up a 
debate that's still hot today. Lawyers continue to discriminate based on race 
in their peremptory challenges, according to critics. That's based on studies 
of several American states and counties:

--Among death-row cases in North Carolina, prosecutors were 2.5 times more 
likely to dismiss black jurors than white jurors, one 2012 study found. The 
pattern didn't lessen with time, the study's authors wrote in the Iowa Law 
Review, and it showed up independent of jurors' views on relevant issues such 
as the death penalty and crime.

--In Caddo Parish, Louisiana, prosecutors were 3 times more likely to dismiss 
black jurors than jurors of other races, according to an analysis by Reprieve 
Australia, a group that advocates for an end to capital punishment. Between 
2003 and 2012, none of the Caddo Parish juries comprising 2 or fewer black 
jurors acquitted the defendant. A 12-person jury that reflected the racial 
balance of the parish would include 5 black members? - and 19 % of such juries 
acquitted.

--An analysis of 8 Southern states found white-biased jury selection in several 
jurisdictions, including Houston County, Alabama, where 26 % of residents are 
black. Between 2005 and 2009, 1/2 of Houston County juries were all-white, and 
the other 1/2 included only 1 black member. The analysis?-?conducted by a 
non-profit called Equal Justice Initiative, which offers legal representation 
to those "whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial 
misconduct"?-?also pointed to evidence that some district attorney's offices 
trained lawyers to stealthily exclude racial minorities from jury service.

--Although most studies of juror dismissals examine the racial biases of 
prosecutors, it works the other way too. In one North Carolina county, defense 
attorneys disproportionately chose to dismiss whites, while state prosecutors 
disproportionately chose to dismiss blacks, according to a 1999 study published 
in the journal Law and Human Behavior.

Among the Equal Justice Initiative's recommendations for combating this 
problem: training in anti-discrimination law for judges and lawyers, especially 
those involved in capital cases; penalties for attorneys who break the law; and 
the retroactive application of the 1986 Supreme Court ruling, Batson v. 
Kentucky, which would mean older cases could be re-tried if lawyers are found 
to have used their peremptory strikes in a racially biased way

(source: psmag.com)