A FLORIDA appeals court has rejected a drugs conviction on the basis that the judge had removed a Jamaican-born woman from the panel of potential jurors because of her nationality.
The prosecution argued she was unfit to serve because of Jamaica's reputation for drug trafficking, according to a report in Miami Herald last Saturday.
During jury selection, prosecutor Denise Neuner claimed juror Hyacinth Anderson, a Jamaican native and resident of Miramar, Florida, should be excluded as the case involved drug trafficking and Jamaica "is known to be a high area for narcotics to be transported in from Jamaica to the United States.''
Defence attorney Sidney Fleischman argued for Anderson to remain, since she was the only potential juror who, like his client, is black. Broward Circuit judge, Judge Sheldon M. Schapiro sided with Ms. Neuner's argument, allowing Anderson's dismissal.
ANOTHER BLACK WOMAN
Neuner later unsuccessfully attempted to dismiss another black woman from the jury because she was from the U.S. Virgin Islands. The appeals court noted that a Colombian juror was selected without objection from Ms. Neuner, despite Colombia's reputation for drug trafficking.
Members of the Caribbean legal community were angered by Neuner's tactics. ''I'm deeply offended that anyone would label a Jamaican unable to be impartial on a jury because they are from Jamaica,'' said Dahlia Walker-Huntington, a Hollywood attorney, Jamaican native, and former president of the Caribbean Bar Association. "It had nothing to do with drugs. It had everything to do with (Anderson's) colour.''
Judge Schapiro had said: "She's the only (juror) from Jamaica and the court is familiar that Jamaica is a place where drugs many times are imported from. In fact we have many tourists that buy these little dolls that are stuffed full of cannabis and other goodies."
The appeals court said Schapiro was wrong when he ruled that Neuner's explanation was race-neutral, or based on something other than the race or ethnicity of the juror.
The defendant, a 29-year-old man from Fort Lauderdale, Cedric Frazier, was convicted in February 2003 for trafficking in cocaine and possession of marijuana. Mr. Frazier will be eligible for a new trial when the ruling of the Fourth District Court of appeal is finalised.
He has already served two years of a 15-year sentence at a prison in Moore Haven. He will soon return to South Florida, where he could be released on bond, Mr. Fleischman said.
To date Mr. Schapiro's has been cited for a total of 13 violations of judicial rules. He once said to an attorney, "Do you know what I think of your argument?" and then started a device that simulated the sound of a toilet flushing.
