Posted on 11/03/2013 8:50:49 AM PST by artichokegrower
For nearly 25 years, Steven Crittenden has been condemned to Death Row at San Quentin State Prison for the gruesome 1987 murder of a prominent Chico couple in their home. Since the day of his arrest, Crittenden has looked for a way to escape, first briefly breaking out of the Butte County Jail prior to his trial, and through endless appeals since he was sent to prison.
Crittenden, 45, is now closer to freedom than ever. And it has nothing to do with whether he killed the affable town doctor and his wife.
A federal judge in Sacramento recently overturned his 1989 conviction based on a technicality in a trial that at the time sparked racial tensions in the overwhelmingly white town some 90 miles north of Sacramento.
The lawyers for Crittenden, a black man from Fairfield, successfully argued that a prosecutor showed racial bias when he dismissed the only black prospective juror.
Prosecutors said they dismissed the prospective juror because it was a death-penalty case and she did not believe in the death penalty.
But San Francisco attorney Mark Goldrosen called the dismissal of the lone black prospective juror in a primarily white town "outrageous," particularly when the woman did not express more reservations about the death penalty than white jurors who were selected.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Doesn’t “Chico” mean “Boy?” If so, shouldn’t the town be considered racist?
On March 10, 2010, President Barack Obama
nominated [Kimberly] Mueller to serve as United States federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.
Her nomination was unanimously
confirmed by the United States Senate on
December 16, 2010. Mueller received her
commission on December 21, 2010.
From Wikipedia
Should have killed him 24 years ago.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.