implicit bias
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Colorado Supreme Court reaches consensus on stalled racial bias rule, with heavy revisions
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The Colorado Supreme Court notified a small group of lawyers and judges last week that it has tentatively agreed on a new rule addressing racial bias in jury selection for criminal trials, breaking its yearslong silence on the proposed reform. Most prominently, the court’s proposed path forward would no longer designate certain justifications for removing…
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Find the bias: Chief federal judge, lawyers talk about how to select a jury
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For lawyers participating in jury selection in federal court, the key is to identify biased jurors, while also remaining conversational, taking notes, and paying attention to basic details. “It is a very frequent occurrence that I’ve clarified how the juror pronounces his or her name and the attorney gets up there and butchers it because…
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Judges warn about bias in courtrooms, legal profession
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During his career as a lawyer, Denver District Court Judge Jon J. Olafson, who is gay, would get singled out as “the party planner.” Karen Steinhauser, a lawyer and Aurora Municipal Court relief judge, was once called up to a judge’s bench by herself, only to be told, “You look really lovely today.” “When we…
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Racial bias proposal for jury selection remains stalled in state Supreme Court
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In February, the Colorado Supreme Court held a lengthy public hearing on a proposed rule change that would make it more difficult to remove jurors of color from criminal trials for reasons that, while not explicitly racial, may still correlate with their race. But nearly seven months later, the Supreme Court has yet to take action…
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Justices critical of proposed racial bias rule supported by defense attorneys, trial judges
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Colorado’s Supreme Court justices gave a less-than-enthusiastic reception on Tuesday to a proposed rule that, if enacted, would aim to curb lawyers’ ability to remove people of color from criminal juries for reasons related to race. During a nearly three-hour hearing, prosecutors from across the state uniformly lined up to condemn the suggested change, with…
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Appeals court reluctantly agrees dismissal of Hispanic juror not a constitutional violation
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Despite its deep skepticism that Adams County prosecutors removed a Hispanic juror from a Hispanic defendant’s trial for reasons other than race, Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday nevertheless found the prosecution’s conduct did not amount to a violation of the constitutional prohibition on race-based dismissals. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals emphasized the…
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Appeals court pushes back against racial bias in jury selection
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Colorado’s second-highest court laid down new rules on Thursday to discourage the exclusion of people of color from juries for reasons that, while not explicitly racial, are nevertheless correlated with race. Two separate panels of the state’s Court of Appeals issued rulings that, in part, forbid the dismissal of Black jurors solely because they reveal…
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Appeals court upholds convictions following claims of racial bias in jury selection
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Colorado’s second-highest court upheld the convictions of two criminal defendants who alleged prosecutors improperly dismissed jurors of color from their trials, although one appellate judge believed a lower court had failed to properly evaluate the potential for discrimination. Each appeal in the cases of Eve Martinez out of Weld County and D’Shay Damu Evans out…
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Lawmakers urge Supreme Court committee to address racial bias in jury selection
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Four Democratic lawmakers have written to the Colorado Supreme Court’s criminal rules committee urging it to address racial bias in jury selection following resistance from prosecutors to a legislative proposal on the subject. Last month, the sponsors of Senate Bill 128 declined to move forward with their legislation after all 22 elected district attorneys registered…
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Sponsors pull bill on racial bias in jury selection after opposition from DAs
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The Democratic sponsors of a bill to combat implicit racial bias in jury selection have opted against moving forward with their proposal, asking instead that the Colorado Supreme Court exercise its rulemaking power before the next legislative session. Sens. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, and Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, had initially sought to address the concerns of…
