OJ Simpson’s legal team experienced their first loss last night. The lawyers for Simpson and his co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart fought to keep two African American females on the jury; however David Roger, the district attorney was trying to use two of his peremptory challenges to excuse the women. Each side has a certain number of peremptory challenges which they can use to exclude a juror without having to state a specific reason. However the D.A. did state that race had nothing to do with his reasons for wanting the women off the jury.
Each of the women had stated that they were very religious, and had indicated that they would either be more inclined to forgive rather than punish Simpson, or would have a hard time sending someone to prison. As a result of the jury’s final racial makeup, the defense tried to get the entire jury thrown out so they could start from scratch; however Judge Jackie Glass rejected their motion. Simpson’s trial will start with an all white jury. Two of the six alternates are African American.
An all-white jury will judge O.J. Simpson and a co-defendant on kidnapping and robbery charges after defense lawyers lost a contentious courtroom battle to include two African-American women on the panel.
Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass said she saw no evidence of a systematic exclusion of African-Americans. The current panel also is made up of nine women and three men. Defense attorneys for Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart, who are both black, moved to dismiss the entire jury panel and start again but the judge rejected the motion.
Lawyers and the judge worked into the night to select the final group, using peremptory challenges, which are reserved for removing prospective jurors without stating a cause.
The final pool of prospects included a number of people who disagreed with Simpson's acquittal in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. But they said they could put that aside and weigh the Las Vegas case on its own merits.
[From the Huffington Post]
Simpson and Stewart have been charged with armed robbery, kidnapping, and assorted other crimes after breaking into a sports memorabilia collector’s hotel room with a team of other men last year. They could face life with the possibility of parole if they’re convicted of the kidnapping, and serious time if they’re convicted on the robbery counts. The opening statements begin on Monday, and the trial is expected to last about five weeks.
The term “race neutral” for David Roger‘s peremptory challenges obviously doesn’t necessarily mean race wasn’t a motivating – or even predominating – factor in his decision to release the two prospective jurors. But he doesn’t have to give a specific reason; and how the jury is made up is supposed to be a big tug of war between the two sides. Regardless of the race issue, I can’t imagine an attorney that wouldn’t have a problem with jurors who said they’d be hesitant to convict someone of the crime they’re about to try. Obviously you wouldn’t want those people on your jury if you could avoid it.
Here’s some older photos of O.J. outside the Clark County Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas in November 2007. Photographer: Mike Stotts. Images thanks to WENN.
WRITTEN BY JAYBIRD
Posted in Court Appearances, Legal Issues, Legal Troubles, O.J. Simpson, Photos
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19 RESPONSES TO "O.J. SIMPSON GETS ALL WHITE JURY"
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KERRI: September 12th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
WHOA!! I'm not going anywhere near this topic. Just passing through.
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vdantev: September 12th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Cuing racism card in 32.
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Enonymous: September 12th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Convicting OJ Simpson will have nothing to do with race but rather because he is an evil, unapologetic abusive murderer that is finally (hopefully) getting what he deserves. It is called Karma.
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Syko: September 12th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I just don't see why it should make a difference. People are people. We got to quit looking at skin color.
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Kaiser: September 12th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I already said it on the Kanye West thread, but I'll say it again:
ZOMG RACE WAR
Hey Syko, you work in a law office, right? What is "Molinaro"? I hear it on L&O all the time, just wondering
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Syko: September 12th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Damned if I know, Kaiser. Isn't that some sort of Italian pasta dish?
Paralegal here, not a lawyer.
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Ladee: September 12th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
White people want to convict him for the murder of Nicole not for what trying to get his shit back. He's dumb for even putting himself in that predicament.
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Codzilla: September 12th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
OJ's a jackass.
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Syko: September 12th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Anybody with any sense would want to convict him for the Simpson/Goldman murders. I don't know why, when he's gotten through the radar on that, he exposed himself to his current troubles. Doesn't show a whole lot of smarts, but then neither does writing a book telling how you did it.
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gg: September 12th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
He really does win the Dumbass Prize.
Hey ladies I just looked up Molinaro and haven't found anything that seems relevant to anything. lol
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Sam: September 12th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Its very simple really. If the two African-American women had not indicated their difficulties in punishing OJ then the DA would have had an extremely difficult time explaining to an Appellate court how their use of their preemptory challenges in striking those two was not racially motivated.
See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986)a Supreme Court case.
They did, so the DA won't.
The Batson Challenge doesn't fit so you can't acquit. (At least for that reason)
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RReedy: September 12th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Here's hoping he gets HIS. Everybody knows he is nothing but a common thug.
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RAN: September 12th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Man, I hope they convict him on these charges. he deserves a huge dose of reality for ALL that he's done.
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MMorton: September 13th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Oh.I am soooo hoping he gets his due!!!!! This man thinks he's invincible and 'above the law'! I truly think he thinks he can get away with anything!! Time to give him a "reality check"! I hope, though long overdue and unfortunately not the murder charges he deserves, that he will finally do some serious time!
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WTF?!?!: September 13th, 2008 at 3:46 am
Kaiser: Actually, it's the Molineaux exception. Below is a brief synopsis, from Wiki, but it seems fairly accurate, if a bit simplistic.
A Molineaux hearing is a New York State pre-trial hearing on the admissibility of evidence of prior uncharged crimes by the defendant in a criminal trial. In most cases evidence of prior uncharged crimes is not admissible because of its potential prejudicial effect. Under certain circumstances it may be admissible. If the prosecutor wishes to bring in evidence of prior uncharged crimes he requests a Molineaux hearing. The judge decides if the evidence is admissible
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Kaiser: September 13th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you for that, WTF.
So I hope they Molineaux OJ's a$$ off.
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WTF?!?!: September 13th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
@ Kaiser:
???
You're welcome.
I don't know if Molineaux extends beyond New York State and if they can invoke it in Nevada, but I sure hope so.
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Baholicious: September 13th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Molinaro means 'black' - as in moulignan (sorry re: spelling) which is the Italian word for eggplant.
Or 'morena' in Spanish i.e. boriqua morena which is a Puerto Rican of African heritage.
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Baholicious: September 13th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Oh wait, I totally jumped at the race-bait, didn't I??
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