Pierre v. Louisiana

Background

A Black man was indicted for killing a white man in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, and convicted and sentenced to death. He claimed local officials had deliberately excluded Black people from the lists used to pick grand and trial juries. The trial judge quashed the petit jury panel and ordered the jury box refilled, but refused to quash the grand jury that returned the indictment. The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, and the case reached this Court on the claim that racial exclusion denied equal protection.

Reasoning

The Court examined testimony from court and local officials and census figures showing about half the Parish was Black. Witnesses said no Black person had served on grand or petit juries for decades and the State offered no rebuttal. The Court said it must review the facts independently when a defendant’s life is at stake. It found the evidence showed systematic racial exclusion from jury service in the Parish, violating the Fourteenth Amendment and federal law, and held that an indictment drawn from the same tainted venire should have been quashed.

Real world impact

The decision requires courts and local officials to include eligible Black citizens on juror lists and prevents convictions that rest on racially excluded juries. Defendants indicted by similarly tainted juries can seek dismissal. The conviction was reversed and the case sent back to state court for further proceedings.

Dissents or concurrances

The Louisiana Supreme Court majority had earlier found no racial exclusion and the state Chief Justice dissented; this Court disagreed after its own review.