JACKSON, Miss. – The U.S. Supreme Court says lower courts in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi must re-examine three death penalty convictions for evidence of racial prejudice in jury selection.
The court ruled Monday in the cases of Christopher Floyd of Alabama, Jabari Williams of Louisiana and Curtis Giovanni Flowers of Mississippi.
The brief decisions followed the court's May decision to overturn the conviction and death sentence of a Georgia man because of evidence that prosecutors intentionally excluded black people from the jury.
The May decision broke no new ground in efforts to fight racial discrimination in jury selection, but underscored a 30-year-old high court ruling that took aim at the exclusion of minorities from juries.
Flowers was convicted after five previous trials over the slaying of four people in a furniture store.
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