Raymond Daniel Posey III
La Plata, MD – Lawyers for a man accused of murder have been racially profiling against white jurors.
That determination by a Charles County Circuit Court judge has derailed the first-degree murder trial of Raymond Daniel Posey III, 24 of Nanjemoy, yet again.
Posey was indicted in February 2015 for the 2011 murder of 29-year-old Crystal Keyona. Since then, several incidents, including witness intimidation claims, have caused the juror selection process to lag.
After spending the last two days trying to scrape together enough jurors for trial, the judge in the case claimed that the defense was racially profiling during jury selection.
West’s ruling will likely postpone the trial to early next year.
Then the state prosecutor contended that lawyers for Posey, who is black, struck down 10 out of the 12 potential jurors because they were white.
“Our attorneys said this isn’t right and the judge went through the patterns of discovery challenges and agreed,” Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington said. “The court properly went through its analysis and its impact on a potential jury. You can’t begin excluding people based on race.”
In response to the claim, Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West invoked a “Batson challenge,” which backed up the prosecutions claim that Posey’s lawyers intentionally excluded white people from the jury.
Under the Batson challenge, a judge can object to the prosecution or defense team’s peremptory strikes during the jury selection process. A peremptory strike allows the prosecution or defense team to get rid of a juror without cause.
This challenge can be invoked if a judge thinks one side is excluding potential jurors based on race, ethnicity or sex during jury selection.
This was the second jury selection in Posey’s case—four members of a jury selected on Monday asked to be dismissed because of daycare issues, leaving the court without the required number of alternates.
The case will now go to a hearing next week to determine when Posey will finally go to trial for the 2011 murder. Posey faces life in prison if convicted.
“At this point, it could be January or April,” Covington said.
Prior stories:
http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0916/jury-snafu-postpones-murder-trial-another-day.html
http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0116/man-to-face-jury-trial-in-first_degree-murder-case.html
http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0315/indictmentforwomansmurderannounced.html
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com