Prosecution Excluded Every Gay Juror from San Diego LGBT Protest Trial

[FreeState]

From an email

Judge Recognizes Batson/Wheeler Violation When Prosecution Excluded Every Gay Juror from San Diego LGBT Protest Trial

Judge Joan Weber of San Diego County Superior Court adjourned proceedings in the Equality Nine Trial this morning after a full day of jury selection Monday. The abrupt change in the schedule of the trial is due to the improper dismissal of gays from the jury panel. While the prosecution, represented by Attorney Dan Rawlins, has maintained throughout that this case is not about Proposition 8 or discrimination against LGBT couples, the judge agreed that the prosecution improperly introduced bias when they dismissed all openly gay potential jurors from the jury panel. This violation, defined by the California and United States Supreme Court cases is referred to as Batson/Wheeler error, and identifies the attempt to exclude of an entire class of people from the jury.

"The only way for the city attorney to get a conviction in this case in San Diego would be to use an unfair jury and that what they tried to do." said Hugh Moore, a local member of the community who was present in the hearing.

"Not only were the rights of these people trampled upon when the County Sheriffs interrupted their legal protest, they were harassed when the city charged them with over-exaggerated crimes, and then again during trial when their civil rights were violated by the prosecution when they were not allowed a fair jury" said Rachel Scoma, Co-Executive Director of Canvass for a Cause, a San Diego based grassroots advocacy organization, who is familiar with the case.

The improper actions of the prosecution in this case will likely require a restart in the costly jury selection process. This incident marks a serious error on the part of the prosecution which has already received copious criticism its insistence that the City of San Diego pay for a criminal trial to take place. This issue was not lost on the initial jury. Experienced members of the defense staff and the judge herself remarked about the unusually high number of potential jurors who said this was a waste of city resources.

Local news coverage with a little background

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/may/01/judge-prosecutors-erred-dismissing-gay-jurors/

Judge slams prosecutors for dismissing gay juror

Superior Court Judge Joan Weber ruled that the defendants in the case were denied a representative jury when prosecutors challenged the selection of a gay man to be on the panel. She said she found the actions of the San Diego City Attorney’s Office “shocking.”

The judge dismissed the entire jury panel.

Prosecutors disagreed with Weber’s ruling. They said the potential juror indicated in a questionnaire that he had protested in support of gay rights issues in the past. Based on that, and other answers, the prosecutors determined he was not a suitable juror for this case, they said.

Assistant City Attorney Andrew Jones said outside the courtroom Tuesday that the case focuses on whether the six defendants who remain charged in the case unlawfully blocked the operation of the county clerk’s office during a protest in August 2010.

[Scuba]

1. "Peers" not allowed.