Statement in Response to U.S. Supreme Court Opinion in Edwards v. Vannoy
NEW ORLEANS – Jamila Johnson, Managing Attorney for the Jim Crow Juries Project at The Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI) issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Edwards v. Vannoy:
“This ruling fails to address historic wrongs and says to the men and women in Louisiana’s prisons that even amid a national reckoning against racial injustice, too many of our institutions still bow to Jim Crow. This fight is far from over. Today’s decision underscores the urgent need for state lawmakers to act swiftly to pass House Bill 346 and create a predictable, orderly path to justice for the more than 1,500 Louisianans who are spending the majority of their lives in prison due to verdicts that today, or at any time in 48 other states, would have resulted in new trials. The voters of Louisiana spoke loud and clear in support of dismantling this relic of Jim Crow, and now their representatives have an obligation to finish the job of restoring justice and repairing the harm this practice inflicted.
“Current Supreme Court precedent sets an impossibly high threshold for retroactivity, and while we disagree with the Court on whether the right to a unanimous jury meets that standard – now the obligation falls to state lawmakers to address the continuing injustice of Jim Crow juries. State lawmakers have the clear legal authority and an urgent moral obligation to restore justice to people imprisoned by Jim Crow juries without delay.
“The systemically racist practice of Jim Crow juries has shaped our past, but it must not continue to cast a shadow over our future. We look forward to continuing to work with state and local officials to restore justice and continue the process of healing from this racist practice that has devastated Louisiana families and communities for generations.”
Background on the Jim Crow Juries Project and House Bill 346:
For more than 120 years, Louisiana was an outlier among states allowing people to be convicted of serious offenses without the unanimous consent of a jury. In 2018, 64% of Louisiana voters voted for Amendment 2, which ended the practice of Jim Crow juries for future trials. In April 2020, the Supreme Court in Ramos v. Louisiana ruled that the Sixth Amendment right to a unanimous jury applies in Louisiana.
Neither of these efforts addressed many people who were convicted long ago by non-unanimous verdicts, leaving more than 1,500 Louisianans imprisoned on the basis of Jim Crow jury convictions--most of whom are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. On December 2, 2020, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Edwards v. Vannoy to consider whether incarcerated people can raise a Ramos claim in the federal courts.
House Bill 346 would allow anyone serving time due to a Jim Crow jury conviction to file a petition for post-conviction relief over a three-year period. Once their post-conviction relief applications are resolved, prosecutors could seek new trials or offer plea deals to people imprisoned on the basis of Jim Crow jury verdicts. A three-year window for filings would allow for an orderly, manageable process of restoring justice.
Working in partnership with more than 60 pro bono law firms and more than 700 lawyers across the country, PJI’s Jim Crow Juries Project is a campaign to heal the wounds inflicted by Jim Crow juries and restore the promise of justice to the more than 1,500 Louisianans who are still in prison due to non-unanimous jury convictions.
CONTACT: Laura Swinford, laura@gpsimpact.com, (314) 856-2799