Justices restudy death case

Dallas Morning News ^ | Dec 7, 2004 | Allen Pusey

[Young Werther]

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday for the second time considered a nearly two-decade-old death penalty case involving a one-time Dallas County practice of excluding minorities from juries.

In 1986, Thomas Miller-El was sentenced to die for the robbery and murder of an unarmed Irving motel clerk. The case has become a focus for the court's ongoing scrutiny of the Texas death penalty.

[Young Werther]

My wife, an RN, sat on this jury. Mr Miller-El and a partner decided to hold up the Holiday Inn across from Texas Stadium. The two night clerks were ordered to lay down in a closet. In order to prevent identification Mr. Miller-El shot both the clerks execution style, in the back of the head. One of the clerks survived and as a quadfreplegic would testify along with Mr Miller-El's partner at Miller-Els trial. My wife and the jury in total found him guilty on the facts!

Mr Miller-El's belief that he was not judged by a jury of his peers is a slap in the face of all races. Does he really believe that the jury composition would in any way mitigatee the facts of the case?

He survives 18 years after the fact! Did he allow such justice to his victims?

[Bikers4Bush]

Thanks for the additional info. Sounds like this guy should have fried a loooong time ago.

[kesg]

Mr Miller-El's belief that he was not judged by a jury of his peers is a slap in the face of all races. Does he really believe that the jury composition would in any way mitigatee the facts of the case?

I fully agree. And the answer to your question is almost certainly yes. Remember the OJ trial? He wants a jury that he hopes would not convict him merely because he is black (especially if the victims were white, although I don't know what race they were). This is decidedly not a good reason to delay his execution, much less overturn the conviction.