The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) filed a federal class action lawsuit today challenging District Attorney Doug Evans’ extreme racial discrimination against Black jurors in Mississippi’s 5th Circuit Court District. For the past quarter century, Evans’ office, which spans 7 counties, has employed a practice of striking Black jurors with peremptory challenges at an extraordinary rate.
In January 2020, Evans filed a voluntary recusal motion in Montgomery County Circuit Court and has taken himself off the Curtis Flowers case.
In every trial, attorneys receive a certain number of “peremptory strikes” that permit them to remove potential jurors without giving a reason. Since taking office in 1992, Evans and his employees have used peremptory strikes against Black jurors 4.4 times more frequently than white jurors. Even the Mississippi Supreme Court has taken notice, observing that the evidence of jury discrimination in one of Evans’ cases was “as strong as they had ever seen.”
Learn more about the case here.
It’s too easy for prosecutors to get away with racial discrimination in jury selection under current procedures. We need a more comprehensive way to attack the problem. This lawsuit, filed on behalf of members of the community being excluded from jury service, does just that.
Key Documents
In the News
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Judge dismisses lawsuit against DA Doug Evans
APM Reports September 11, 2020 -
Embattled prosecutor Doug Evans withdraws from Curtis Flowers case
Clarion Ledger January 6, 2020 -
Curtis Flowers case: Justice requires colorblind jury selection
Clarion Ledger November 29, 2019 -
Suit seeks to block prosecutor from excluding black jurors
Associated Press November 18, 2019