Prosecutor's "O.J. case" thrown out
WASHINGTON (AP) - March 19, 2008 By a 7-2 vote, the justices said state prosecutor Jim Williams
improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted Allen
Snyder of killing his estranged wife's companion. Snyder is black
and the jurors were white.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said the trial
judge should have blocked Williams from striking a black juror.
Alito's opinion made no mention of Simpson.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented. Thomas
said he would not "second-guess" the judge.
During jury selection in the trial, Williams disqualified all
five blacks in the pool of prospective jurors. The Supreme Court
ruled in 1986 that prosecutors may not exclude people from a jury
solely because of their race. The court already had sent Snyder's
case back to the Louisiana courts following a ruling in 2005 that
bolstered the prohibition on race bias in jury selection.
The prosecutor's explanation for striking a prospective black
juror was "suspicious," said Alito. The prospective juror's
supervisor said he did not think a schedule conflict between the
upcoming trial and the prospective juror's work would be a problem.
In contrast, the prosecutor accepted white jurors who disclosed
conflicting obligations "that appear to have been at least as
serious as" the prospective black juror who was excused, Alito
wrote.
The trial took place in August 1996, less than a year after
Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and a male friend of
hers. Leading up to the trial, Williams made repeated public
references to the Snyder case as his "O.J. Simpson case."
Snyder was convicted of first-degree murder in Jefferson Parish,
just outside New Orleans. He was found guilty of repeatedly
slashing his estranged wife, Mary Snyder, and a man, Harold Wilson,
with a knife when he found them in a car outside her mother's home
in August 1995. His wife survived, but Wilson died.
Adding to the Simpson comparison, Snyder told police just before
his arrest that he was suicidal. Simpson, armed with a gun and
apparently considering suicide, led police on a dramatic, televised
chase before surrendering.
In a 4-3 decision, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that race
had no part in the state's decisions involving black potential
jurors.
When the case was argued in December, the justices were critical
of the trial judge, Judge Kernan "Skip" Hand, for overruling many
defense objections about the prosecutor's use of race and Simpson's
name.
Stephen Bright, Snyder's Atlanta-based lawyer, said the ruling
shows there is broad agreement among the justices that courts must
closely examine the reasons given for excusing potential jurors
when racial motives might be present but not acknowledged.
"The disturbing thing is that courts in Louisiana and elsewhere
were just deferring to trial judges, no matter the reasons,"
Bright said.
Snyder will get a new trial as a result of the ruling, Bright
said.
The case is Snyder v. Louisiana, 06-10119.
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