ALAMEDA, Calif. — Two formerly death-sentenced Californians have sued the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, alleging prosecutors systematically excluded Black and Jewish jurors from their capital trials in the 1990s, after a federal judge found a pattern of unconstitutional prosecutorial misconduct that led to their death sentences being reduced, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Ernest Dykes and Curtis Ervin sued the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, alleging it “set out to rig the juries” in their capital cases during the 1990s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In 2024, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria found a pattern of unconstitutional prosecutorial misconduct, leading to both of their death sentences being reduced. The lawsuit alleges the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office knowingly participated in racial discrimination during jury selection…