Snyder’s Conviction Overturned
Posted by Maggie on March 19, 2008
The US Supreme Court has issued its opinion in Snyder v. Louisiana. The Court found the Batson challenge to be meritorious. I blogged about Snyder’s oral argument and history here. Justice Alito (!) wrote the opinion and does a good job of comparing the circumstances of the dismissed black juror–a student teacher worried about missing class whose dean promised to work with him on scheduling–to other white jurors who were accepted–a construction worker in the middle of 2 jobs whose wife just had a hysterectomy, a man with “urgent appointments” he couldn’t miss or reschedule–and finds the reason for striking the juror not race-neutral.
I’m happy to see the Batson framework getting more consideration these days.
