Assignment 16- Sadie Marsh

Freedom Summer 1964. Mississippi.

Volunteers from across the nation came to Mississippi with the goal of registering as many black voters as they could. Mississippi was chosen due to its historically low levels of African-American voter registration; in 1962 less than 7% of the state’s eligible black voters were registered.

Volunteers and voters were targeted by the KKK and local authorities. These people had their homes burned down, they were beaten, and they were falsely arrested. Three volunteers disappeared. Their bodies were found six weeks later.

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In history whenever people feel as though they need a change, they get together and we call that a movement. Freedom Summer was part of the Civil Rights Movement. Other movements in American history were to end slavery and to get women the right to vote, so why aren’t we creating a movement for this?

This country was founded by those who got together and started the change. Americans need to come together, to form a movement.

A movement that will reveal the depth of discrimination in our court systems.

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When we think of discrimination we think of the unarmed man shot in Cincinnati, or the fact that men and women don’t have equal pay.

We don’t think of a courtroom. We don’t think of the jury. We don’t realize that in a courtroom it’s not the judge convicting people, but the jury. So, it doesn’t matter who the judge is, it matters what the jury looks like. If the jury is all one class of people, you can’t convince them of anything. If they are different, you have a fair chance.

Juries are meant to be a representation of the society. A small microcosm of the community- meant to represent everyone. To be made up of men and women, and different ages and races. To have different jobs and different levels of education. To believe in different religions and to be different.

Ideally, here in Fayette County, our jury would be 51% female, 49% male. 76% White, 14% Black, 7% Hispanic, and 3% Asian.

That would appropriately and legally represent our population.

But this doesn’t happen. We may pretend that we are a “post-race” society and that everyone is equal. But that is not the way it is.

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You would think that out of the three branches of government, the Judicial Branch would be the one to follow the law. But that isn’t true.

            This is why we need to care about not what the plaintiff looks like, or the defendant looks like but what the jury looks like.

The jury is a key element to a fair trial. If you want to have a fair trial you have to have the right group of people that are listening. And when you don’t have that, then you’ll end up like countless Americans in jail today.

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In 2012 Duke University conducted a survey. It was found that all-white jury pools in Florida were 16% more likely to convict black defendants than white defendants, with blacks convicted 81% of the time and whites only 65%.

            When just one black juror joined the pool, the conviction rates were nearly identical. 71% for blacks and 73% for whites.

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In 1986 a trial was held- Batson v. Kentucky. James Batson was indicted in Kentucky on charges of burglary and receipt of stolen goods. Batson was convicted.

            But, Batson was tried by an all-white jury, as the Prosecutor used their peremptory challenges to remove all black persons eligible.

            The peremptory challenge is an objection to a prospective juror, resulting in their dismissal. No reasoning has to be given.

            Can a party use peremptory challenges to remove all people eligible who happen to be demographically similar to the defendant? In an appeal, the Supreme Court then set a precedent: racial discrimination in jury selection is unconstitutional and lawyers accused of it must be able to provide a nondiscriminatory explanation.

            This trial set up a three-step process for testing accusations of racially based use of peremptory strikes. It was intended to eliminate the use of racial bias in these strikes.

            First, the objecting party must provide evidence of discrimination. Second, the opposing party must offer nonracial reasons for dismissing the juror. Third, the judge must decide if racial bias was proven.

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Earlier this year, a trial’s decision was reversed and the case remanded. It was Foster v. Chatman from 1986, just after Batson v. Kentucky.

            Timothy Foster of Georgia- then 18, was charged with the murder of Queen White, an elderly white lady. He was sentenced to death by an all-white jury.

            At the time of his trial, his lawyers failed to provide enough evidence for racial discrimination.

            Almost 20 years later, Foster obtained the prosecution’s jury lists and selection notes. The notes made it very clear that the potential black jurors had been excluded because of their race.

            Each black prospective jurors name was highlighted green, circled, and labeled with a ‘B’.

            One prospective juror was 34 year old Marilyn Garrett. The prosecution struck her because she was “close to the age of the defendant.” Foster was 18.

            Then the prosecution accepted eight white jurors who were under 35. One was just two years older than Foster. Garrett was struck from serving on the jury because of her race.

            Another prospective juror was Eddie Hood. The prosecution struck him because he had a son near Foster’s age. When it was pointed out that two selected white jurors had sons near 18, the stated reasoning was changed. Then it was because he was a member of the Church of Christ, who - the Prosecution - claimed were against the death penalty.

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In Foster’s case, the Prosecution only used some of their peremptory challenges.

In a 2004 Mississippi murder conviction, prosecutors used all of their 15 strikes to remove black jurors.

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            Hopefully, you now consider this to be an issue. And when you hear people say that “everyone is equal,” or “the Civil Rights Movement ended years ago!” you will know that it is not true.

            Our fight for women’s suffrage and marriage equality may be over, but our movement to end discrimination in jury selection is just beginning. After all, some don’t even know it exists.