WASHINGTON -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor strongly objected Monday to a Texas prosecutor's reference to the race of the defendants as an argument to convince a jury they were involved in a drug deal.
The Supreme Court refused to hear the case of Bongani Calhoun, a black defendant who was convicted, but Sotomayor wrote an unusual statement to "dispel any doubt" that turning away his appeal would "signal our tolerance of a federal prosecutor's racially charged remark. It should not."Calhoun was arrested with several other men and charged with taking part in a drug conspiracy.The prosecutor told the jury that the men were together in a hotel room. "You've got African-Americans, you've got Hispanics, you've got a bag full of money. Does that tell you -- a light bulb doesn't go off in your head and say, 'This is a drug deal?'"Calhoun's lawyer did not object to the racial reference, and the issue was not raised in his appeal. For that reason, the court turned away the case.But Sotomayor wrote a separate statement, joined by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, to voice her objection. She said the "prosecutor here tapped a deep and sorry vein of racial prejudice that has run through the history of criminal justice in our nation. ... It is deeply disappointing to see a representative of the United States resort to this base tactic more than a decade into the 21stCentury."Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
