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| Supreme Court will hear death row case again |
| By Dallas Morning News |
| Published: 06/29/2004 |
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear - for a second time - the case of a Texas death-row inmate who has said that racial bias tainted his 1986 murder conviction in Dallas. Last year, the high court returned the case of Thomas Joe Miller-El to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying the lower court had erred when it refused to allow Mr. Miller-El the right to appeal his case on the issue of jury selection. Mr. Miller-El, who is black, had argued that a history of biased jury selection by the Dallas district attorney's office had played a part in his case. The Supreme Court ordered the 5th Circuit to allow the appeal, which was reheard and decided by the lower court earlier this year. The 5th Circuit again rejected Mr. Miller-El's claims, saying that selection of only one black juror in his case was not part of any "purposeful" discrimination. Mr. Miller-El's lawyers had vowed to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court once again. "We're extremely pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear Mr. Miller-El's case again," said Mr. Miller-El's attorney, Jim Marcus of the Texas Defender Service. A spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott declined to comment while the case is still pending before the courts. Dallas District Attorney Bill Hill's office said it was reluctant to comment on the 18-year-old case, which will be argued by the Texas attorney general's office. "We believed that 5th Circuit opinion had settled the legal issues in the case," said Lori Ordiway, head of the office's appellate staff. The case will probably be argued early next year. |
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