The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1908-03-18
Not Compelled to Select Negroes for
Jurymen.

decision, said:
This appellant is negro, and
was indicted in the first district of
Kinds county on the charge of
robbery. convicted, and given a
sentence of eight years in the pen
itentiary. A review of this
record leaves no doubt as to the
propriety of his conviction on the
evidence adduced by the state.
Before the trial a motion was
made by the counsel for the ap-
pellant to quash the Indictment on
the ground that appellant has been
Disseminated against, in that no
negroes we're on the jury. When
this motion was made some testi-
mony was taken in attempted sup
port of it, but the testimony ut
terly fails to show that there was
any discrimination against appel
liant in any way on account of his
race or color. On the contrary,
the testimony shows concIusively
that the laws of the state have
been complied with strictly, and
that no person was put on the
jury simply because he belonged
to the white race, nor was any
person kept off because he belong
ed to the colored race. In the
case of Dixon VS.. State. IA Miss.
271,. and Gibson VS.. State, 1852
U. S. sos, Lawyers Ed. 1915, all
the provisions of our law with
reference to the selection of Jurors,
both by the statute and the con-,
stitution, are reviewed and elab-
orateIy discussed and held not to
be repugnant to any clause or Sec
tion of the constitution of the
United States.
In view of these decisions, and
the full discussion of this subject
which is contained in them, we do
not deem it necessary to 60 into
further discussion of this subject.
There is nothing in our jury law
which does not apply with equal
force to all citizens, whatever be
their race or color. 1t is a mis-
taken impression which seems to
have become prevalent, that in
order to constitute q valid jury
there must be some negroes in the
jury list. Such is not the case.
A jury may be composed entirely
of negroes, or it may be composed
entirely Of white persons, or it
may be composed of a mixture of
the two races, and in either and in
any case it is a perfectly lawful
jury, provided no one has been
excluded or Disseminated against
simply because he belongs to one
race or the other. 4
Section 1858 of the Code of
1906 provides how the list of ju-
rors shall be procured, and of
whom it shall be composed. IT.
does not say, either in express
words or by,implication, that the
jury shall be composed of white
people entirely, or that it shall be
composed of colored people, or
that it shall be composed OF any
particular race, but it does say
that the jury shall be composed of
persons of good intelligence,
sound Judgment, and fair charac-
ter. This section provides that
the board of supervisors shall Sc
Iect and make the list of persons
to serve as jurors, and that they
shall use their guide in making
the list, The registration books
of voters, and shall select list of
names of qualified persons of good
intelligence, sound judgment, and
fair character, and shall take them
as nearly as they conveniently can
from the several supervisors dis
tricts as to the number ofqualified
persons in each, etc. This is
the guide by which the board of
supervisors shall be governed in
the selection of those who are to
serve as jurors, and it was the OBJ
ject and the purpose of the law to
give them wide discretion in the
selection of jurors in order that
they might secure persons of good
intelligence, sound Judgment, and
fair character, to the end that
there may be nothing but the
purest administration of the law.
There is nothing in the law
which permits them to discrim-
mate and refuse to take a negro
on jury simply because he is
negro; neither are they required
to take him on the jury because
he is a negro. They are only
required to select persons of good
moral character, and when in the
exercise of that discretion vested
in them by the law, they have
done this in an honest purpose to
get good men on the jury, ir-
respective of the race to which
they belong and without discrim-
ination merely on account of race
or color, they have exercised a
discretion not subject to review
by this court or any other court.
Affirmed.
The constitutional amendment
| for an elective Judiciary passed