Opinion ID: 386882
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Racial Composition of the Grand Jury and the Grand Jury Venire

Text: 33 There has been great dispute between the parties over the racial breakdown of the persons who were included in the jury venire. We therefore compare a variety of jury and venire participation figures to the eligible population statistics. At trial, the parties appear to have stipulated that 19.43% of the persons on the jury wheel as of January 1, 1962, were black. 24 This figure presumed that all persons of undetermined race were black, a presumption with some support in the record. 25 The parties at one point sampled thirteen of a group of undetermineds, and found that seven were black, leading to an alternative presumption that 50% of the undetermineds were black. 26 Using that presumption, 16.64% of the persons on the jury wheel as of January 1, 1962, were black. Finally, two out of the twelve persons on the grand jury which indicted Barksdale, as well as the three previous grand juries, were black, yielding a black percentage of 16.67%. These figures for grand jury and venire participation compare to the previously derived figures for eligible population as follows:In light of the cases discussed, supra, in which the United States Supreme Court held that a prima facie case could not be satisfactorily proved by showing that an identifiable group in a community is underrepresented by as much as 10 percent, we find that Barksdale has failed to prove a prima facie case of grand jury discrimination. We acknowledge that the Supreme Court has given no clear guidelines as to what disparity proves a prima facie case. However, in this case the disparities offered to prove a prima facie case of jury discrimination are razor thin; such proof may be easily rebutted.