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,…