I expect the issue, valid or not, will be explored at the appeal stage, if there's a conviction.  And if it appears to have been an invalid move by the judge I'd cheer the ACLU's involvement in the case.

For what it's worth, the ACLU's involvment in the Mumia case seems to be limited to the First Amendment concerns raised by the trial, not racism.

The defense's strategy is to object to everything and is the scatter-gun approach to leave Brothers a possible appeal based upon every single objection raised by the defense during the trial.

It's a sure bet Brothers will die of old age if he is convicted - He sure as Hell will not see the execution chamber even if he is convicted "beyond a reasonable doubt."

If you knew this juror you would not be so surprised. I can guarantee you the judge had very good reason and race was not the issue whatsoever. Of course there always going to be those people that refuse to believe that.

timec

ok let's see if i can state this a different way. let's reverse the "race" card. if brothers was white and had been accused of killing his white family, and we got to this point in the trial and the last white juror was removed from the jury.  Would you be crying foul about him not having a jury of his peers? for that matter would you even be following the trial? actually i think you would because from your last post when you ref'd case history, i believe you are much more intelligent than i previously stated and i apologize for that. but that's what is so hard for me to understand. why someone with any intelligence would post something like"Black People take a good look at this. Stay out of these white folks way." which to me just promotes racist theory in and of itself. in an effort to eradicate racism, people need look at issues without including race as a determining factor. maybe i'm getting off base here but your original post just sparked a fire in me i guess.

Whah....whah....whah!!!!  All you do is cry about how the BLACK man doesn't get a fair trial!!!  HELLO!!!!  What about this innocent family who was all black and was killed (while they were sleeping)?!?  Did they get a fair trial?  NO, they did not!!!  This was cold blooded murder!!!!!!!  Why aren't you concerned about them, huh?

With that said, you should not assume that the guy is innocent or guilty based on his color!!!  You should listen to both sides of the story and come to your own conclusions.  Quit looking at his color!!!

my point exactly, thank you anon

It is interesting that some individuals assume the "only black juror" would be the one person to find Mr. Brothers not guilty.  It is entirely possible the dismissed juror would have believed, after hearing the evidence, that Mr. Brothers is guilty.

What a terrible thing to put on this man's shoulders, to assume he would not weigh the evidence and then make his own decision, because of his race.  To do so is to call him racist, isn't it?  If he were to make his decision based on race alone, yes, that would be racist.

A "fair trial" is not one which automatically ends in a finding of not guilty, hence the jury system.

One must remember the jurors were interviewed and accepted by the prosecution and the defense.  It's not a "typical" Kern County jury.  It is a jury chosen amongst Mr. Brothers peers.  Your peers are not  meant to be exactly like you, and not necessarily the same race as you.

It's possible Mr. Brothers is guilty.  It is also possible Mr. Brothers is innocent.  Let's remember the precious individuals who lost their lives, innocently sleeping.  Someone made the decision to murder them and hopefully the person who did it is on trial.  Frightening to think that individual is still free.

Quote from Timec "Racism is very real"

You are making that very apparent with your comments. Of course it is just such comments that will keep it very real. That seems to be just what some people want and that includes black, white, brown, yellow, purple, green and whatever other color you want to throw out there.

Jurors are called to service from DMV and voter registration records.  Does anyone mean to say there was only one black juror because people of color don't vote or have diver's licenses? 

There is a process called jury selection.  Both sides participate.

timec

i'm obviously white? how so?i have no clue? next i suppose your gonna say i belong in a rocking chair with a banjo. first of all that is the beauty of the internet, you will never know if i'm black,white,yellow, if i speak tagalog as my native language or maybe korean. bottom line, you do a disservice to "your race" by creating a bigger divide with your so called "warnings"

Welcome to the Rantings Of Timec!

So much hate makes one wonder where it could possibly come from.

Timec and anon

Both of you are suggesting that a black person goes into a jury room with predisposed opinions  based solely on the skin color of the defendent.  Otherwise, why bemoan the dismissal of a juror whose only similarity to the defendent is his skin color. 

What does skin color have to do with due process as long as a juror keeps an open mind throughout the trial? 

What I read in today's newspaper regarding Kyle Humphrey making his five cents known as to why the juror was excused.  Excuse me if I am wrong, but aren't you married to Lisa Green, Mr. Humphrey?  I know that you used to be, and if you are now, do you  find it responsible to make comments about your wif'e's or even ex-wife's cases?

Our court system in this county is still the worst yet.  Hearing some of Lisa Green's closing statements, if I closed my eyes and let my attention disorder take over, I thought she was giving the eulogy to her bosses funeral.  "You have no love for your family, and you never have Mr. Brothers...." and on and on it went, I swear she was talkin' bout your Jagelestrom.

It makes no difference what the verdict will be to these people who think a black man cannot get a fair trial.  It only matters what his skin color is.  If he is black, he must be innocent being persecuted by whitey. Have you forgotten about the beautiful black family that was murdered? Why is it more important to you that a black man go free than getting justice for this black family? I don't understand that mentality. On one of the other blogs, someone said "everybody lies". I guarantee that if he was truely innocent, he would make damn sure that he was totally honest and forthcoming with everything. If you are caught in one lie, not to mention the multiple lies he was caught in, why should anything he says be believable? It has nothing to do with the color of his skin! If you say that he is not guilty because he is black and can't possibly get a fair trial, THAT is injustice, THAT is racism. It is disgusting to me that you are more willing to believe that because he is black, he is getting screwed. If you think that race is such an issue, why was anyone arrested for the murders at all? According to you, blacks are sub-human, so who cares who murdered these 5 black people? I am sick to death of the race card being thrown around. Let justice be done. You won't like the verdict one way or the other, some people aren't happy unless they are angry and pointing the finger at someone. How about for once, you point the finger at the killer of this beautiful family and demand justice for the five black people that were killed.

to anon at 1:38 pm.  Who are you to say that anyone who is anyone didn't care about the family that was murdered.  Did you know their friends?  Did you know the people that attended their church?  Did you know any of the people that left memorials at there house?  I bet you knew none of them and probably couldn't care less either because then it wouldn't fit in with your notion that no one cared for them because they were black.  Children too young to testify were murdered in cold blood.  Why???  They couldn't tell who killed them.  But they were killed anyway and let me tell you something I am white and I cried and still do evertime I think of it.  I don't care what color their skin was they were children and that is all that counts.  This was a cold blooded personal murder to get rid of everyone in the family no matter how old they were.  That hurts me and all mothers we don't care what race we only see the fact that they were children.

And don't say that i only say this to cover up the fact that i am racist.  Because i grew up in a family that acknowledged 2 kinds of people.  You were either Officers or NCO and every holiday our house was a house of may colors because all single people or people whose family was elsewhere were invited to a meal and fun.

Okay folks, this terrible mess is all over with.  Take a look at those beautiful gravesites, and the dates of those babies that died, they never had a chance to go to school, fall in love, or get to be cool, all because Brothers is a perverted sex addict and now a multiple murderer.

Now that it is all over, the end for Mr. Brothers is now the DEATH PENALTY.  He even had the nerve to get his brother involved in his bullpucky crapola.  How can you look in that steel mirror in that cell Brothers?  You won't die from the death penalty, wait till you get to prison where they have their own justice system.....you just don't murder babies you idiot.