Tue Jul 01 19:50:00 UTC 2025: **Summary:**
A federal appeals court has ruled that Alabama prosecutors violated the constitutional rights of Michael Sockwell, a Black man sentenced to death in 1990 for the murder of a sheriff in 1988. The court found that prosecutors “repeatedly and purposefully” rejected potential Black jurors based on race, violating Sockwell’s 14th Amendment rights. Sockwell is now eligible for a retrial. The appeal cited prosecutors notes rejecting jurors based on their race. A dissenting judge argued that the prosecutor noted the race of all the potential jurors.
**News Article:**
**Alabama Death Row Inmate Granted Retrial After Court Finds Racial Bias in Jury Selection**
**MONTGOMERY, July 2, 2025 (The Hindu)** – A federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of Michael Sockwell, a 62-year-old man sentenced to death in 1990 for the murder of former Montgomery County Sheriff Isaiah Harris. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Alabama prosecutors violated Sockwell’s constitutional rights by systematically excluding Black jurors during his original trial.
The court’s 2-1 decision stated that prosecutors “repeatedly and purposefully” rejected potential Black jurors who were believed to be more sympathetic to Sockwell, a violation of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.
Sockwell was convicted of killing Harris in 1988. Prosecutors alleged that Harris’s wife hired Sockwell to kill Harris, and that Sockwell had initially confessed to the crime. However, he later testified that he was coerced into confessing and implicated another man in the murder.
Attorneys for Sockwell argued that prosecutors unconstitutionally used race as the basis for jury selection, rejecting 80% of eligible Black jurors compared to only 20% of white jurors. The appeal cited notes from the prosecutor rejecting one juror because he was a “(B)lack male, approximately twenty-three years of age, which would put him very close to the same race, sex, and age of” Sockwell.
The ruling also cited other cases where the prosecutor had seemingly illegally rejected Black jurors based solely on their race, suggesting a “pattern” of discriminatory jury selection.
Judge Robert J. Luck dissented, arguing that the prosecutor’s notation of the race of white potential jurors indicated that race was not necessarily a disqualifying factor. He also stated that 17% of the jury in Sockwell’s trial was Black in a jury pool that was 24% Black.
As a result of the court’s decision, Sockwell is now eligible for a retrial. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office has not yet commented on the ruling. This case shines a light on the enduring issue of racial bias in the US criminal justice system.
First Piper 