Patterico's Pontifications

4/22/2005

A More Cynical Person Would Call This An Effort to Make the Death Penalty Sound More Expensive

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 3:59 pm



In an interesting story about a Supreme Court argument over the extent to which prosecutors must justify striking minority jurors, the Los Angeles Times misstates the rules regarding how many peremptory challenges each side may use in a trial:

In California, the prosecutor and defense lawyer may each exclude as many as 10 potential jurors without giving a reason in a routine crime case, and up to 20 potential jurors in a murder case that could lead to the death penalty.

Actually, each side may excuse up to 20 jurors in any case where the penalty is an indeterminate (life) sentence. That includes all murder cases, not just those involving the death penalty. It also includes any Three Strikes case, and many sexual assault offenses.

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