That’s what a Kentucky state representative wants the legislature to find out. Democratic Rep. Reginald Meeks is sponsoring a bill that would mandate a study of the issue and publish the results by November 2016. The move comes after a rather contentious spat between Jefferson Circuit Judge Olu Stevens and Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine. Judge Stevens has dismissed juries twice in the past year that lacked any black jurors, saying they were not representative of the community. Wine, the state’s top prosecutor, says he’s unsure if that’s the judge’s prerogative and said the judge implied in social media postings that Wine was racist and wanted all-white juries.
That prompted Wine’s decision to file a motion with the Supreme Court of Kentucky requesting that Stevens be removed from all criminal cases in the state. Wine contended that Stevens could not be impartial to the Commonwealth’s attorneys.
A Kentucky chief justice ordered Stevens and Wine into mediation earlier this month. The two signed an agreement acknowledging that neither party was racist and Stevens, who had postponed hearing cases on his docket, returned to the bench earlier this week.
In Jefferson County, Kentucky, 21 percent of the residents are estimated to be African-American, while the numbers of potential African-Americans jurors tends to be less than 15 percent. Rep. Meeks’ bill asks for a statistical analysis identifying the race of citizens who are summoned for jury duty; the ones who actually show up; and the ones who eventually serve as jurors, among other data.
