Louisville Judge Dismisses Juries For Not Having Enough Blacks Selected

Louisville Circuit Court Judge – Olu Stevens – dismissed a jury in the middle of a trial- asking for a new jury to be assembled that had more diversity. Damon Shanklin – who is an African-American male – was on trial in Louisville last week facing charges of ‘Cultivating Marijuana’. Judge Stevens became concerned that of the 41 potential jurors that were brought in to decide the case – only 3 were black. Stevens dismissed the entire jury and brought in a new group.

“The concern is that the panel is not representative of the community,” – Judge Olu Stevens

This is not the first time that Judge Stevens has dismissed a jury based on the lack of African-American jurors. In November of 2014 – Stevens dismissed a 13-member jury that was selected to hear a theft trial – with an African-American defendant – that didn’t have a single black juror on it.

“There is not a single African-American on this jury and (the defendant) is an African-American man… I cannot in good conscious go forward with this jury.” – Judge Olu Stevens

The trial proceeded after a new jury was assembled the next day.
The Kentucky Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments from the Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office as to whether Judge Stevens has abused his authority.
Many black defendants in Jefferson County have complained about being convicted by juries comprised of “all-whites”. The Racial Fairness Commission has studied the claims for years and concluded that juries in Jefferson County consistently lack minority representation.
WDRB reports that in October of this year, only 14% of potential jurors were black. Records from the Racial Fairness Commission state that African-Americans make up 21% of Jefferson County’s population – suggesting that defendants often aren’t judged by a jury of their peers.

“It’s a problem… We are not hitting that representation.” – Appeals Court Judge Denise Clayton/ Head of the Racial Fairness Commission 

Judge Stevens is no stranger to controversy. In February of this year he captured national headlines when he criticized a family that were victims of a home invasion committed by a group of black males.
According to WDRB – one of the accused -Gregory Wallace – plead guilty to charges of robbery and burglary and was being sentenced by Judge Stevens. The Gray family [victims] didn’t attend the sentencing hearing but submitted hand written victim impact statements. Stevens said that he was offended by statements in the letter regarding the mindset of a three year-old family member.

“Since the crime occurred my daughter is terrified of black males.” – Thomas Gray
“She is in constant fear of black men. When out running errands, if we come across a black male, she holds me tight and begs me to leave.” – Jordan Gray

Judge Stevens aggressively attacked the accusations in the letter by stating:

“I’m offended by that. I’m deeply offended by that. That they would be victimized by an individual, and then express some kind of fear of all black men. I wonder if the perpetrator had been white, would they be in fear of white men? The answer would probably be ‘no’,” – Judge Olu Stevens

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