BURLINGTON, Vt.—Suspects in 11 federal criminal cases pending in Vermont say the method of selecting jurors is racist so the charges against them should be dismissed.
Defense attorneys say using voter rolls to select jurors excludes minorities as potential grand jurors and trial jurors.
According to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Burlington, the charges are unconstitutional because of racial discrimination.
"The system is one of exclusive reliance upon a source of potential jurors which fails to include a fair cross-section of the community," wrote Bud Allen, an attorney for drug suspect Cassius Shine, who is black, in a motion to dismiss the indictment.
Prosecutors say the jury selection method is unbiased and the suspects' claim "has no basis in fact or law."
"Defendant completely ignores the uniform case law approving the use of voter lists in the absence of a showing that the group or class to which a defendant belongs has been hindered from registering to vote," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Nolan in the Shine case. "He cannot demonstrate systematic exclusion."
Judge William Sessions III will hear the arguments during a daylong session on July 1.
Both sides agree that if the defendants win, 13 suspects in 11 cases would have to be indicted a second time by grand jurors.
"It's not going to jeopardize past convictions," said U.S. Attorney Thomas Anderson, the top federal prosecutor in Vermont.
Eleven of the defendants are facing drug charges, while one is also accused of trying to hire someone to kill a witness. Another suspect is accused of possessing firearms as a convicted felon; and one is charged with re-entering the country after having been deported, court records say.
------
Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com
