Handwritten jury notes unearthed by a staffer at the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office (ACDA) in California revealed a strategy of excluding Jewish and Black jurors from the pool of Ernest Edward Dykes, pictured right in booking photo provided by the ACDA.
In a case of sweeping alleged misconduct that threatens to upend the convictions of 35 active death row cases, a district attorney’s office in California has announced that it found a series of handwritten notes indicating prosecutors may have intentionally excluded Black and Jewish Americans from a jury pool roughly 40 years ago.
The announcement was made Monday by Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and it was U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern California District who asked Price’s office to investigate.
“These notes — especially when considered in conjunction with evidence presented in other cases — constitutes strong evidence that, in prior decades, prosecutors from the [Alameda County District Attorney’s office] were engaged in a pattern of serious misconduct, automatically excluding Jewish and African American jurors in death penalty cases,” wrote Chhabria.
The Barack Obama-appointed judge will oversee the review.
The notes stem from the case of Ernest Edward Dykes. Dykes was sentenced to die in 1995 after a jury found that he murdered Lance Clark, a 9-year-old boy and son of his landlord, Bernice Clark, by shooting him in the chest. Dykes, the jury found, had only attempted to kill Bernice Clark during the robbery.
Dykes, who is now 51 years old, has appealed his sentence as he sits on death row.
During a press conference on Monday, according to local CW affiliate KRON, Price said she expects “it will take a long time” to determine how widespread potential trial rights violations may go.
A handwritten note released by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
A handwritten note released by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Price emphasized that the investigation was not about politics.
“I’m mandated to root out unethical behavior. This is about ethics. To ensure every person charged with a crime receives a fair trial,” she said. “It appears that certain prosecutors in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office intentionally excluded Black and Jewish jurors.”
Only a few of the handwritten notes were released this week after being under seal, a review of the federal docket in California shows. Some of the family members of people on death row in California have already been notified, KRON reported.
Price asked people who may be affected to call the Victim Witness Advocates program at 510-208-9555 or via email at [email protected].
An attorney for Dykes did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
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