CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has overturned the first-degree murder conviction of a Las Vegas man, ruling that a woman was wrongly bumped from the jury pool because she is a Democrat.
In a ruling Thursday, a three-judge panel said discriminatory jury selection warranted reversal of the guilty verdict against Jermaine Brass.
The Las Vegas Sun reports Justice Mark Gibbons said the prosecution's reason for seeking dismissal of the woman, who is black, was that she was a registered Democrat and had "Democratic" views on law enforcement.
Brass was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He and his brother, Ronnie, were convicted in the January 2009 killing of their brother-in-law, Ernest Mitchell.
Ronnie Brass was stabbed to death in March while serving his sentence at the Ely State Prison.
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