The cap­i­tal con­vic­tions of dozens of peo­ple from Alameda County, California are com­ing under legal scruti­ny because of an accu­sa­tion that Jews and black women were exclud­ed from juries in cap­i­tal tri­als in the coun­ty as ​“stan­dard prac­tice.” The prac­tice was revealed in a sworn dec­la­ra­tion by for­mer Alameda pros­e­cu­tor John R. Quatman in the habeas cor­pus pro­ceed­ings of Fred Freeman, a man on California’s death row who is seek­ing to have his con­vic­tion over­turned. Quatman not­ed that the judge at Freeman’s tri­al, Stanley Golde (pic­tured), advised him dur­ing jury selec­tion that ​“no Jew would vote to send a defen­dant to the gas cham­ber.” Quatman stat­ed that the prac­tice of exclud­ing such jurors also extend­ed to black women. Judge Golde, who died in 1998, presided over more death penal­ty cas­es in Alameda County than any oth­er judge. There are 44 peo­ple from Alameda County on California’s death row.

Attorneys rep­re­sent­ing Freeman on appeal reviewed the jury selec­tion in 25 of Golde’s cap­i­tal tri­als from 1984 – 1994. Their research found that 12 peo­ple who iden­ti­fied them­selves as Jews were called to the jury box and that the pros­e­cu­tion reject­ed all 12. In addi­tion, the review revealed that 17 peo­ple who had sur­names per­ceived as Jewish were also called, with the pros­e­cu­tion exclud­ing 15. Overall, the jury selec­tion exam­i­na­tion found non-Jews exclud­ed at a rate of 49.97%, and Jews and peo­ple with Jewish sur­names exclud­ed at a rate of 93.10%. ​“It is high­ly like­ly that this is going to be a recur­ring prob­lem for Alameda County cas­es, and it could show up else­where. Legal argu­ments are not a fad for cap­i­tal defen­dants. They are used until the law is set­tled,” said Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for the state attor­ney gen­er­al’s office. (New York Times, March 15, 2005). See Race.

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