On June 25, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a capital case from Louisiana in which an all-white jury sentenced a defendant to death after the prosecutor urged a death sentence so that the defendant would not “get away with it” like O.J. Simpson. All five qualified African-Americans had been struck from the jury pool by the prosecution using peremptory challenges. The defense has challenged the selection of the jury as a violation of equal protection.

The defendant, Allen Snyder, is black and was convicted of killing his wife’s male companion in a trial that occurred within a year of the O.J. Simpson acquittal. Jelpi Picou, executive director of the the Capital Appeals Project of Louisiana which is representing Mr. Snyder, said that, “Both a majority of the Louisiana Supreme Court and the State have denied that these statements demonstrated racially discriminatory intent” noted Mr. Picou, “because the prosecutor did not state the self-evident: that Mr. Snyder and Mr. Simpson are black. Given that Mr. Snyder’s trial took place less than a year after O.J. Simpson’s acquittal, it is difficult to imagine that the members of Mr. Snyder’s jury would not have been aware of the racially divisive nature of that case.” The case is Snyder v. Louisiana, No. 06-10119, and it will likely be heard by Court in the fall.
(Press Release, Capital Appeals Project, June 25, 2007). Read the Press Release. See also Race.