“He Looks a Little Like the Defendant”: A Closer Look at the History of Racial Bias in Jury Selection | Death Penalty Information Center

“He Looks a Little Like the Defendant”: A Closer Look at the History of Racial Bias in Jury Selection | Death Penalty Information Center

As clos­ing argu­ments of his tri­al began in Johnston County, North Carolina, Hasson Bacote watched as Assistant District Attorney Gregory Butler urged the jury to sen­tence him to death. Mr. Bacote, a Black man, had been con­vict­ed of fatal­ly shoot­ing 18-year-old Anthony Surles dur­ing a rob­bery when Mr. Bacote was just 21 years old. Mr. Bacote admit­ted he had fired a sin­gle shot out of a trail­er, but said he did not know that he hit an…