Entries tagged with “Batson v. Kentucky”
Aug 20, 2026
Former North Carolina Death Row Prisoner Frank Chambers Resentenced
On August 11, 2026, former North Carolina death-sentenced prisoner Frank Chambers, a Black man, was resentenced to two consecutive life sentences in connection with the 1992 shooting deaths of an elderly white couple in Rowan County. Evidence of significant misconduct emerged in Mr. Chambers’ case, and prosecutors ultimately conceded that this evidence tainted the fairness of Mr. Chambers’ death sentence and led to his resentencing. According to his counsel, Mr. Chambers’ trial was also…
What to Know Series
,Jul 21, 2026
What to Know: Prosecutorial Misconduct and the Death Penalty
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. Why it matters: More than 600 capital convictions or death sentences have been overturned or led to exonerations because of prosecutorial misconduct, and researchers say the true scope of the problem is likely far greater. DPI has identified more than 600 instances in which a capital conviction or death…
What to Know Series
,May 13, 2026
What to Know: Jury Selection and the Death Penalty
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. Please visit DPI’s Discrimination in Jury Selection page for a deeper dive into the issue. Why it matters: Nearly four decades after the U.S. Supreme Court barred race-based juror strikes in Batson v. Kentucky (1986), studies have found that prosecutors in North Carolina capital cases still exclude…
Apr 30, 2026
“The Miscarriage of Batson v. Kentucky”: Forty Years Since the Landmark Ruling Challenging Racial Imbalance in Jury Selection Proceedings
Today, the state of Texas plans to execute James Broadnax, a Black man who challenged the state for its discriminatory use of peremptory strikes to exclude every Black juror at his trial, in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Batson v. Kentucky (1986). Barring a last-minute stay, Mr. Broadnax’s execution will coincide with the 40th anniversary of Batson that put race at the forefront of the jury selection process. Racial bias in jury selection has been a feature of…
Mar 17, 2026
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear State’s Appeal in Michael Sockwell’s Case, Clearing Path for New Trial
On March 2, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Alabama’s appeal of a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that reversed and remanded Michael Sockwell’s case on the grounds that the trial prosecutor violated his constitutional rights by intentionally removing Black jurors. The Court’s denial of review clears a path for Mr. Sockwell to receive a new trial, some 36 years after a judge first sentenced him to death. A November 2025 federal court ruling ordered…
Mar 28, 2025
“He Looks a Little Like the Defendant”: A Closer Look at the History of Racial Bias in Jury Selection
As closing arguments of his trial began in Johnston County, North Carolina, Hasson Bacote watched as Assistant District Attorney Gregory Butler urged the jury to sentence him to death. Mr. Bacote, a Black man, had been convicted of fatally shooting 18-year-old Anthony Surles during a robbery when Mr. Bacote was just 21 years old. Mr. Bacote admitted he had fired a single shot out of a trailer, but said he did not know that he hit anyone. “Hasson Bacote is a thug: cold-blooded and without…
Issues
May 28, 2024
Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals Categorically Bars Review of Racial Bias in Capital Jury Selection
On May 3, 2024, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals announced its decision in the case of Christopher Henderson, a death-sentenced man who had been tried by an all-white jury in Madison County, Alabama, where the population is 24.6% Black. Prosecutors in his capital trial used peremptory strikes to remove six of the 10 qualified Black potential jurors and all remaining jurors of color. Mr. Henderson’s counsel from the Equal Justice Initiative identified evidence that the prosecutor’s strikes…
Issues
Apr 30, 2024
Discussions with DPIC Podcast: Professor Elisabeth Semel on the Implications of Batson v. Kentucky and California’s Capital Punishment System
In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Elisabeth Semel, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley (pictured). Professor Semel joined Berkeley Law in 2001 as the first director of the school’s death penalty clinic and remains the clinic’s co-director, where students have represented individuals facing capital punishment and written amicus briefs in death penalty cases before the United States Supreme Court. In…
Issues
Apr 30, 2024
Professor Elisabeth Semel on the Implications of Batson v. Kentucky and California’s Capital Punishment System
In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Elisabeth Semel, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Semel joined Berkeley Law in 2001 as the first director of the school’s death penalty clinic and remains the clinic’s co-director, where students have represented individuals facing capital punishment and written amicus briefs in death penalty cases before the United States Supreme Court. In recognition of…
Issues
Mar 28, 2024
OP-ED: Black Woman Denied Opportunity to Serve as a Juror in Georgia Capital Trial Cites Concerns About Racial Bias
In a March 26, 2024, op-ed published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Patricia McTier, a Georgia nurse, recounts her experience being removed from a jury pool in 1998 for what she calls a “questionable reason” related to her race. Born and raised in Appling County, Georgia, Ms. McTier grew up in the Jim Crow era and writes that she “enter[ed] adulthood during a time of great social change,” where she grew to “cherish our American system of justice and the Constitution that endows all of us…
Issues
Feb 20, 2024
Op-Ed: Law Professor Stephen Bright Encourages SCOTUS to Review “Egregious Racial Discrimination” in Georgia Death Row Prisoner’s Case
In a February 14, 2024 op-ed published in the Washington Post, the longtime defense lawyer, former director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, and law professor Stephen Bright highlights the continued illegal exclusion of Black jurors in violation of Batson v. Kennedy (1986). The op-ed titled, “Struck from a jury for being Black? It still happens all too often,” uses the case of Georgia death-sentenced prisoner Warren King, whose petition the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to review on…