LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for a Black defendant after finding that a lower court judge failed to protect his civil rights. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, the court ruled the judge should not have let a prosecutor strike two Black men from the jury pool without exploring her reasons. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that removing a potential juror based on race violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The prosecutor removed one Black juror for “bad body language.” The other Black juror was removed because his father was prosecuted decades earlier for murder, although a white juror whose father was prosecuted for fraud was deemed eligible.
