Murder Conviction Upset Over Jury’s Racial Makeup

The state Supreme Court reversed the murder conviction of an Oakland man Monday because the trial judge dismissed as “totally fallacious” a defense lawyer’s claim that the prosecutor excluded black women from the jury.

“What’s so magic about black women? “ Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Taber was quoted as saying when the defense lawyer pointed out that the prosecutor had kicked from the jury several black women.

In a unanimous opinion ordering a new trial for Edward James Motton, the court pointed to its landmark 1978 decision saying that to ensure fair trials, juries must reflect the community’s ethnic makeup. And when defense lawyers charge that prosecutors seem to be excluding blacks from juries, judges must investigate, the court said.

Ruling Extended

Justice Allen Broussard, writing for the court, extended that ruling Monday by saying that prosecutors cannot systematically exclude black women from juries during jury selection. The original decision applied to blacks generally.

“Black women face discrimination on two major counts--both race and gender--and their lives are uniquely marked by this combination,” the court said.

The court cited its 1978 ruling, which said, “diversity in beliefs and values that jurors bring from their group experiences must be encouraged in order to achieve an impartiality in their decision-making processes.”

The trial judge was quoted as rejecting the defense lawyer’s complaint about jury composition by saying: “Actually, everybody that I have been able to detect that wore toupees . . . (has) been excused too, but is there some significance to that?”

“You have got women on the jury,” Taber said. “What function does a black woman fulfill that the white woman doesn’t? “

The case began with the slaying of Ernest Martinez near downtown Oakland in June, 1979. Martinez had stepped off a bus when Motton allegedly attacked him with a knife, stabbing him 11 times. Motton did not know Martinez. Shortly before the crime, witnesses said, Motton was thrusting a knife into the air. When police questioned him, he said his house had been “demonized.” Motton was convicted by an all-white jury of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

The court dismissed the attorney general’s claim that the case should not have been reversed because the prosecutor had approved two black men as jurors, only to have the defense attorney exercise his peremptory option and dismiss the black men.

“By insisting that the presence of one or two black jurors on the panel is proof of an absence of intent to systematically exclude the several blacks that were excluded, the (prosecutor) exalts form over substance,” the Supreme Court said.

Justice Malcolm M. Lucas said in a concurring opinion that his vote to reverse the conviction was compelled by the 1978 ruling with which he disagreed.