2 death row inmates to be resentenced amid review into decades of prosecutorial misconduct in Alameda County, DA announces

By Nick Watt and Stephanie Becker, CNN

(CNN) — The Alameda County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday announced the resentencing of two death row inmates amid an ongoing ordered review of dozens of death penalty cases to determine whether prosecutors in those cases intentionally excluded Black and Jewish jurors.

Ernest Dykes, the “lead case that triggered” the review, is one of the inmates who will be resentenced, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said at a Tuesday news conference. He would be set to be released next year on probation, the district attorney said.

Dykes was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of 9-year-old Lance Clark during a 1993 robbery in Oakland, California. Dykes admitted to the robbery and shooting, but denied it was intentional, Price said.

While preparing for his appeal, an Alameda County deputy district attorney found handwritten notes about potential jurors from the trial back in the 1990s – notes that “clearly indicate that Black and Jewish jurors … were being tracked and excluded from the jury that ultimately convicted Mr. Dykes and sentenced him to death,” Price said.

Prosecutors, by law, cannot exclude jurors because of race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality.

CNN previously shared images of notes believed to be written by prosecutors during Dykes’s trial. In those notes, Black potential jurors – and only Black potential jurors – had their race marked. “Must go,” was written next to the name of a Black man; another juror had the word “Jewish” underlined on their questionnaire. Farther down, a handwritten note reads: “I liked him better than any other Jew. But no way.”

“Put in the context with the evidence and other cases… it became clear there was potentially a pattern and a practice of that kind of prosecutorial misconduct in other cases,” Price said.

Federal Judge Vince Chhabria ordered the DA’s office to review death penalty cases dating back to the mid-1980s after being alerted to those notes. Among those cases are convicted mass shooters, serial killers, rapists and murderers.

“I’m almost at a loss for words,” Lance Clark’s sister – who did not want her name published – told CNN following the announcement of his upcoming release. “Our system really has done a disservice to our family.”

Price on Tuesday also announced plans to resentence Keith Thomas, who was initially sentenced in 1997. A judge will need to approve the resentencing motions before the sentences are changed.

“Mr. Thomas will receive a sentence of 23 years to life, he has already served 31 years. So, he will be eligible for parole…and possible release,” Price said.

Thomas had been sentenced to death for the kidnap, rape and murder of Francia Young, a 25-year-old woman on her way home from work. “Racist imagery and stereotyping used… during the trial, from opening statement to the penalty phase, essentially undermined the integrity of this conviction,” Price said.

The DA’s office is currently reviewing 56 death penalty cases.

“In 40 out of 56 death penalty cases since 1978, approximately 70%, jury selection materials are missing,” she said. “There may well have been an effort to sanitize the files. We intend to look into that.”

So far, the DA’s office has found evidence of racial profiling of juries as late as 2015 and has identified seven prosecutors potentially involved. “In addition to violating the Constitution,” Price said last month, their behavior “may have been criminal.” One of the seven still works at the DA’s office, but now with a “supervisor,” according to Price. Another currently serves as a judge in Alameda County, and yet another was just appointed as a judge in nearby Contra Costa County.

Price – who took office last year – has previously said she believes the racial profiling of jurors was potentially widespread and well-known in the department under her predecessors because, in 2003, during an appeal of a death penalty conviction, John Quatman, a former deputy DA, testified a judge “said I could not have a Jew on the jury.” He went on, “It was standard practice to exclude Jewish jurors in death cases: as it was to exclude African-American women from capital juries.”

Studies have also found patterns of racial bias in jury selection from California and Washington to Connecticut and New York as well as the Deep South.

On Tuesday, Price apologized on behalf of the DA’s office to the families of victims Clark and Young for the misconduct. She also apologized “to the African American community of Alameda County, to the Jewish community, to the LGBTQ+ plus community who were also denied their constitutional rights.”

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