FILE - The Supreme Court is seen, April 21, 2023, in Washington. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, declined to consider the case of a man on death row in Georgia whose lawyers argue that a prosecutor improperly excluded Black jurors during his trial. on Tuesday declined to consider the case of a Black man on death row in Georgia who says his trial was unfair because the prosecutor improperly excluded Black jurors.
Reached by phone Tuesday, Johnson declined to comment, saying the Supreme Court’s decision “pretty well speaks for itself.” He then gave reasons for his strikes. The judge accepted his explanations until he said he struck one juror because “this lady is a black female” who was from the same area as King and knew him and his family. The judge noted that the woman had said she didn’t know King or his family, found that her elimination violated the Batson rule and ordered her seated on the jury.
A law governing the final phase of appeals says a federal court must defer to state courts’ determinations on factual issues unless the state court’s findings were unreasonable.