Kentucky Court Says Judge Wrong to Dismiss Jury Over Race

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – The Kentucky Supreme Court says judges don’t have authority to dismiss randomly selected jury panels because of a lack of racial diversity.

Its unanimous ruling Thursday stems from a decision by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Olu Stevens to dismiss a nearly all-white jury in a case involving a black defendant.

The high court says giving judges such power would be “short-sighted.” It says different judges would have different ideas about what constitutes fairly composed juries.

Prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to take up the issue. The case set off a feud between Stevens and Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine.

Stevens accused Wine of trying “to protect the right to impanel all-white juries.” Wine denied the claim, and Stevens later was suspended for 90 days by a judicial conduct commission.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.