MILLER-EL v. COCKRELL, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, INSTITUTIONAL DIVISION: certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the fifth circuit.

MILLER-El v. Cockrell (Supreme Court case); UNITED States. Supreme Court; APPELLATE procedure; JURY selection; EQUAL rights; CAPITAL punishment; KENNEDY, Anthony M., 1936-; ACTIONS & defenses (Law)

The article presents information on the U.S. Supreme Court case Miller-El v. Cockrell, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, case number 01-7662, argued on October 16, 2002 and decided on February 25, 2003. In 1986, Dallas County prosecutors decided to exclude 10 African Americans eligible to participate as part of the jury which tried petitioner Thomas Joe Miller-El through the use of peremptory strikes. Miller-El continued to argue that his conviction and death sentence must be terminated because the jury selection process violated the Equal Protection Clause. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit refused to provide the petitioner a certificate of appealability (COA). However, according to Justice Anthony Kennedy, the COA should have been issued.