Supreme Court Weighs Juries and Race

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court sent a message to prosecutors and judges yesterday that it will cast a skeptical eye on the exclusion of blacks from juries.

The justices, by a 7-2 vote, threw out a death sentence and murder conviction because a Louisiana prosecutor kept blacks off the jury in a trial he called his "O.J. Simpson case."

While the high court has ruled previously that jurors cannot be excused solely because of their race, the practice has continued, often with the approval of judges, legal scholars said.

"Courts have consistently been willing to accept any explanation, however far-fetched, as to why the exclusion of a minority juror wasn't actually based on race," a Hofstra University law professor, Eric Freedman, said. The court's ruling yesterday indicates judges should be less accepting of prosecutors' explanations, Mr. Freedman said.