Key points:
- Douglas “Chief” Stankewitz seeks relief under California Racial Justice Act.
- Stankewitz claims racial bias tainted his 1978 conviction and sentence.
- Judge Arlan Harrell previously denied Stankewitz’s habeas petition in December 2024.
Douglas “Chief” Stankewitz, California’s longest-serving individual on death row, is seeking relief under the California Racial Justice Act (RJA), arguing that racial bias tainted his conviction and sentence in a case that has kept him incarcerated since 1978.
In a motion filed under Penal Code § 745(a)(1) and (a)(2), his defense argues that prosecutors relied on racial stereotypes and that at least one juror was improperly excluded because of their Native American identity.
The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office has opposed the motion, while the defense has submitted a formal reply pressing its case for a hearing…