Washington high court reverses Black man’s conviction over racially biased jury selection

The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that prosecutors discriminated against a Black man by striking the last Black person from his jury pool nearly two decades ago. The Seattle Times reports 65-year-old Theodore Rhone will get a new trial as the state’s high court continues to take steps to rectify a national history of racism and the persistence of implicit bias in jury selection. The unanimous decision was issued Thursday. Rhone argued before his 2005 trial that the state’s exclusion of the last Black potential juror without reason was discriminatory. He was denied a new jury at the time and convicted on several charges, including robbery.