Turner v. Murray (1985)
- Docket
- 84-6646
- Decided
- 1985-01-01
Summary
Question: In a capital case involving an interracial crime, is the defendant entitled to have potential jurors informed of the victim's race and questioned about any potential racial biases? Conclusion: Yes. Justice Byron R. White delivered the opinion for the 7-2 majority. The Court held that "special circumstance[s]" could create a significant likelihood that a trial judge's failure to question potential jurors about racial prejudice leads to a biased jury. In this case, where an interracial murder was charged as a capital offense, the Court held that the facts amounted to one of those special circumstances. The Court reasoned that jurors in capital cases have broader discretion that makes it easier to act, even if subtly, with racial prejudice. This discretion, coupled with the finality of a death sentence, entitles defendants in interracial capital cases to inform prospective jurors of the victim's race and question them about any potential racial bias. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. wrote an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part in which he argued that the majority should have overturned Turner's death sentence rather than vacating it. In his separate opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, Justice Thurgood Marshall argued that the defendant should retain the right to inform prospective jurors of the race of the victim and inquire about potential racial biases in any case that involved a violent interracial crime. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. joined in the opinion. Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. wrote a dissenting opinion in which he warned that the majority's new rule would drastically increase the number of death row prisoners filing habeas petitions without providing them any new protections. Justice William H. Rehnquist joined in the opinion.