The Nation - News from Sept. 22, 1987

The judge in the trial of four white youths charged with chasing a black man to his death in traffic in Queens last year ruled the defense excluded blacks from the jury solely because of race. New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Demakos, presiding over jury selection in the case, ordered defense lawyers to provide reasons other than race for using their so-called preemptory challenges to rule out blacks as jury members. Defense lawyers said they would appeal the decision. Michael Griffith, 23, was hit by a car and killed after a group of whites attacked him and two other black men in the early morning hours of Dec. 20, 1986.