Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 8, 2006 2:10:48 GMT -5
Attorney deciding next step in black-excluded death sentence
The attorney for a black man sentenced to die by an all-white jury in
Jefferson Parish says he will probably ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to
reconsider its 4-3 ruling that race had no part in the prosecutor's
decisions involving black potential jurors.
Attorneys for the Capital Appeals Project are discussing options with
Allen Snyder, and have 14 days to file a request for a rehearing, director
Gelpi Picou said Thursday.
Louisiana's highest court already has considered the question twice. This
week's ruling was a response from a U.S. Supreme Court order.
"The Capital Appeals Project will initially seek rehearing at the
Louisiana Supreme Court," he said. Depending on how that goes, it would
decide whether to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take another look at the
case, he said.
Snyder was convicted in 1996 of stabbing his estranged wife 15 times and
killing a man with whom she was talking.
The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in 1999 and again Wednesday that race
wasn't part of the equation. The justices did not consider that order a
rejection of their 1999 analysis but "a mere expansion of our review,"
said the majority ruling by Justice John Weimer.
The U.S. Supreme Court had ordered another look in light of its decision
in a Texas case, in which a black man was sentenced by a jury that
included 1 black. In Snyder's case, prosecutors used peremptory challenges
to remove all 5 black prospective jurors.
He was joined by Justices Chet Traylor and Jeffrey Victory, and retired
Judge Fred C. Sexton, sitting in because Justice Jeannette T. Knoll had
stepped aside from the case.
Chief Justice Pascal Calogero and Justices Catherine Kimball and Bernette
Johnson disagreed with the majority. The prosecutor's prejudice was shown
by 2 comparisons he made between Snyder's case and that of O.J. Simpson,
who had been acquitted in 1995 of killing his ex-wife and a friend of
hers, they said.
(source: Associated Press)
The attorney for a black man sentenced to die by an all-white jury in
Jefferson Parish says he will probably ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to
reconsider its 4-3 ruling that race had no part in the prosecutor's
decisions involving black potential jurors.
Attorneys for the Capital Appeals Project are discussing options with
Allen Snyder, and have 14 days to file a request for a rehearing, director
Gelpi Picou said Thursday.
Louisiana's highest court already has considered the question twice. This
week's ruling was a response from a U.S. Supreme Court order.
"The Capital Appeals Project will initially seek rehearing at the
Louisiana Supreme Court," he said. Depending on how that goes, it would
decide whether to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take another look at the
case, he said.
Snyder was convicted in 1996 of stabbing his estranged wife 15 times and
killing a man with whom she was talking.
The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in 1999 and again Wednesday that race
wasn't part of the equation. The justices did not consider that order a
rejection of their 1999 analysis but "a mere expansion of our review,"
said the majority ruling by Justice John Weimer.
The U.S. Supreme Court had ordered another look in light of its decision
in a Texas case, in which a black man was sentenced by a jury that
included 1 black. In Snyder's case, prosecutors used peremptory challenges
to remove all 5 black prospective jurors.
He was joined by Justices Chet Traylor and Jeffrey Victory, and retired
Judge Fred C. Sexton, sitting in because Justice Jeannette T. Knoll had
stepped aside from the case.
Chief Justice Pascal Calogero and Justices Catherine Kimball and Bernette
Johnson disagreed with the majority. The prosecutor's prejudice was shown
by 2 comparisons he made between Snyder's case and that of O.J. Simpson,
who had been acquitted in 1995 of killing his ex-wife and a friend of
hers, they said.
(source: Associated Press)