Jury Selection, and Whether It Is Acceptable to Dismiss a Juror in the Juror Dismissal Stage of a Trial Based on Their Race

In the article I chose a man's sentencing was unjustly affected due to a difference in policy between the state he was being tried in, and the national laws regarding the same topic. The policy dispute has to do with the process and exemptions of jury dismissal prior to the beginning of the trial based on motives of race. In trials held within the states it was policy that both sides could dismiss a certain amount of jurors without explaining their motives for doing so. This clashed with a 1986 ruling of the Supreme Court that said a juror could not be removed simply because of his race, which was made apparent in the 1998 trial of Larry Blanding. Larry Blanding was an African American legislator of South Carolina who was on trial for extortion. His Defense was unable to strike a juror because the judge ruled that the attempted dismissal was based solely on race, and that the confederate flag on the bumper of the juror in question was irrelevant.…