A fresh allegation of biased jury selection has surfaced as part of an ongoing review of dozens of death penalty cases in Alameda County, California. The case in question involves Curtis Lee Ervin, whose 1991 murder conviction was recently overturned due to evidence of racial discrimination in jury selection.
Pamela Price, the Alameda County District Attorney, announced on Wednesday that her office is considering whether to retry Ervin’s case after the California Attorney General’s Office determined that a prosecutor improperly excluded Black jurors during his trial. Price, a former civil rights attorney elected in 2022 on a reform platform, described Ervin’s prosecution as “very problematic.”
The investigation revealed that a deputy district attorney used peremptory challenges to eliminate nine out of eleven Black individuals and one Jewish person from Ervin’s jury. Such challenges are prohibited from being used in a discriminatory manner based on race, ethnicity, or other protected characteristics.
According to the review, the prosecutor misrepresented statements made by at least one Black juror. A comparative analysis by the Attorney General’s Office suggested that the prosecutor inappropriately dismissed Black jurors while retaining white jurors with similar responses.
An appellate court that assessed Ervin’s conviction noted a stark disparity in jury selection, with the prosecutor dismissing 20% of non-Black jurors while eliminating 82% of Black jurors. Ervin, who is Black, was convicted of murdering Carlene McDonald, who was white.
This case is part of a broader review of 35 death penalty convictions from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. The review was initiated after a federal judge indicated compelling evidence of a historical pattern of “serious misconduct” involving the automatic exclusion of Black and Jewish jurors from death penalty trials.
The scrutiny of these cases was triggered by the discovery of handwritten notes from a prosecutor in a separate 1995 death penalty case, which suggested the deliberate exclusion of Jewish and Black female jurors. Price has stated that this potential misconduct could date back to 1977 and might involve several former prosecutors from her office.
Ervin’s attorney, Pamala Sayasane, expressed hope that the District Attorney’s office would “thoroughly examine this case and recognize that retrying Curtis Ervin would constitute a significant injustice.” Ervin, now 71, is no longer on death row and is being held in a state facility for inmates with medical needs.
This development comes amid ongoing national discussions about racial bias in the criminal justice system and efforts to reform jury selection processes. The Alameda County cases highlight the long-lasting impact of discriminatory practices in jury selection and the challenges in addressing historical injustices within the legal system.
As the review continues, Price’s office faces the complex task of determining how to proceed with these cases while balancing concerns of justice, fairness, and the rights of both defendants and victims. The outcome of this review could have significant implications for death penalty cases not only in California but potentially across the United States.
Citations:
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-allegation-biased-jury-selection-raised-review-dozens-california-d-rcna165907
[2] https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1821864078257565836
[3] https://www.alcoda.org/alameda-county-death-penalty-cases-are-reviewed-after-prosecutors-discover-evidence-of-prosecutorial-misconduct-excluding-jewish-and-black-residents-from-jury-service-in-death-penalty-cases/
[4] https://www.yahoo.com/news/allegation-biased-jury-selection-raised-063401867.html
[5] https://www.allsides.com/news/2024-08-08-2215/general-news-new-allegation-biased-jury-selection-raised-amid-review-dozens
[6] https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/new-report-shows-ongoing-racial-discrimination-in-ca-jury-selection/
[7] https://www.dailynews.com/2024/08/06/jury-selection-starts-today-in-las-tom-girardi-embezzlement-trial/
Last modified: June 20, 2025
