Entries by Benjamin Branaman

Recent decisions from California’s Supreme Court have narrowed the scope of the state’s Racial Justice Act (RJA), limiting a law aimed at eliminating racial bias from the judicial system and potentially making it harder for those on death row to seek relief through the statute moving forward. Though the court overturned the death sentence of Anthony Bankston, who was repeatedly referred to as a “thug” and compared to a Bengal tiger by the prosecutor, this opinion, along with three other…