Lewis v. State
Lewis v. State
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This appellant is a negro, and was indicted in the first district of Hinds county on the charge of robbery, convicted,
Before the trial a motion was made by the counsel for the appellant to quash the indictment on the ground that appellant had been discriminated against, in that no negroes were on the jury. When this motion was made, some testimony was taken in attempted support of it; but the testimony utterly fails to show that there was any discrimination against appellant in any way on account of his race or color. On the contrary, the testimony shows conclusively that the laws of the state have been complied with strictly, and that no person was put on the jury simply because he belonged to the white race, nor was any person kept off because he belonged to the colored race. In the case of Dixon v. State, 74 Miss., 271; 20 South., 839, and Gibson v. State, 162 U. S., 565; 16 Sup. Ct., 904; 40 L. Ed., 1075, all the provisions of our law with reference to the selection of jurors, both by the statute and the Constitution, are reviewed and elaborately discussed, and held not to be violative of any clause or section of the Constitution of the United States. In view of these decisions, and the full discussion of this subject which is contained in them, we do not deem it necessary to go into a further discussion of this subject. t There is nothing in our jury law which does not apply with equal force to all citizens, whatever be their race or color. It is a mistaken impression, which seems to have become prevalent, that in order to constitute a valid jury there must be some negroes in the jury list. Such is not the case. A jury may be composed entirely of negroes, or it may be composed entirely of white persons, or it may be composed of a mixture of the two races; and in either and in any case it is a perfectly lawful jury, provided no one has been excluded or discriminated against simply because he belongs to one race or the other.
Section 2688 of the Code of 1906 provides how the list of jurors shall be procured and of whom it shall be composed.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- George Lewis v. State of Mississippi
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Juries. Selection. Civil rights. Board of supervisors. Discretion Code 1906, § 2688. Code 1906, § 2688, prescribing procedure in the selection of jurors, does not admit of discrimination against any citizen by reason of his race or color, and the courts will not review the discretion of the board of supervisors exercised in accordance with the section. 2. Same. Race. Color. A jury may be composed'wholly of white men, wholly of negroes or partly of white men and partly of negroes; and it is not essential to the rights of a defendant that some man of his race shall be on the jury by which he is tried; it is sufficient if none be excluded because of race or color.