NEWS

In Tensing jury questionnaires, hints of prejudice?

Sharon Coolidge, Kevin Grasha, and Mark Curnutte
Cincinnati

Juror questionnaires released Tuesday from the Ray Tensing murder trial led some legal experts and black leaders to question whether the jury selection process effectively tilted the result toward a group of people more inclined to support cops and be suspicious of minorities.

White, college-educated suburbanites predominantly served on the jury, a review of the questionnaires shows. That is exactly what the black community was concerned about – a lack of diversity in a case where many saw race as a factor.

“How does this happen?” asked Bishop Bobby Hilton, when hearing answers from some jurors about the Black Lives Matter group that has protested police killings of black men and about whether they have had a frightening experience with a person of another race.

“It’s supposed to be a random, blind selection,” said Hilton, president of the local chapter of the civil rights group the National Action Network. He attended most of the trial in person and counseled the family of shooting victim Sam DuBose.

The jury, made up of six white men, four white women and two black women, failed to reach a verdict three weeks ago.

Local defense attorneys Mark Krumbein and Donyetta Bailey analyzed the jury questionnaires Tuesday evening with a team of Enquirer reporters. Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan released redacted versions Tuesday, 2½ weeks after the case ended in a mistrial.

Among the findings:

  • It was apparent that more jurors favored the defense. The answers of at least seven suggested they leaned toward siding with the defense. Only three leaned toward the prosecution. “Perhaps the writing was on the wall after jury selection,” Krumbein said.
  • One of the two black jurors shared sentiments potentially favoring the defense, writing, “Drug dealers need to think about their effect on society and drugs are part of the root of crime.” She also spoke highly of police officers, seeing them as positive mentors to children. DuBose had more than half a pound of marijuana and about $2,600 in the car.
  • One of the male jurors has an uncle who was a Cincinnati police officer. The man also is friends with a police officer. “They are the good guys and should be given the benefit of the doubt,” he wrote about police.

Bailey, president of the Black Lawyer’s Association of Cincinnati, watched the entire trial either in person or via a livestream. After reviewing the answers on the questionnaires, she understands why it ended in a hung jury.

Bailey said there were immediate red flags regarding the answers several jurors gave. She focused on Question No. 126, which asked jurors if they agreed with the statement: “Some races and/or ethnic groups tend to be more violent than others.”

Four jurors agreed with that statement. One checked “strongly agree.”

“I don’t understand how they were able to sit on the jury and why they weren’t removed for cause,” Bailey said. “To me, it’s an automatic challenge for cause. It shows racial prejudice.”

Views on Black Lives Matter

Tensing stood trial earlier this month on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter in the death of DuBose, who was pulled over for a missing front license plate on July 19, 2015, and was shot dead mere minutes later.

More than 200 potential jurors were summoned to service and asked to fill out a 25-page questionnaire. Forty-five were subsequently questioned by attorneys before the jury was chosen.

Names, ages, addresses and specific information about jobs were blacked out in the questionnaires released Tuesday. In addition to the 12 jurors who heard the case, questionnaires from four alternate jurors – all white women, including one who left the jury fearing she would be identified – also were included. That made it impossible to pinpoint exactly which white female jurors deliberated in the case.

Six questions for prospective jurors centered on what they thought about the group, Black Lives Matter, which emerged following a police officer's fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, two years ago. Another six questions looked at whether jurors had preconceived notions about police-involved shootings of unarmed black men.

Question No. 84 asked directly for prospective jurors’ opinion of Black Lives Matter.

A white woman wrote, “If victims weren’t wrong to begin with there wouldn’t be so many shootings.”

A white male juror wrote that groups “like Black Lives Matter are important because they raise awareness of an issue previously not widely known.”

Another question asked if prospective jurors had ever had a “frightening experience” with a person of another race and, if so, to explain.

A white male juror wrote, “I was mugged by a group of African-Americans when I was a high school senior” and “punched in the mouth.”

Other jurors wrote, “No,” to the question.

“These are really concerning because they imply that these incidents can have lasting effects,” Hilton said of the questions posed to the potential jurors. “When I saw these questions in the beginning, the questions seemed biased, and that they were trying to eliminate any semblance of an inclusive jury.”

Jurors favored body camera technology

Central to the case was the fact that Tensing’s body camera recorded the shooting. Jurors saw a frame-by-frame video analysis and experts for both sides explain what the video showed.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has said without the video, Tensing would not have been charged.

The questionnaires, with two questions about body cameras, were designed to get a sense of what jurors thought about the technology that records what an officer is seeing. Overall, the jurors supported their use.

One white woman wrote that body cameras are “almost like the public’s eyes.”

Another white woman wrote that recordings “will answer a lot of questions about an incident. Maybe not all, but a lot of them."

Fear only a factor during the trial, not before

The questionnaires specifically asked jurors if they were worried about how the public would react to a guilty verdict or not guilty on all charges and whether they were concerned about personal safety.

Five jurors responded they were worried about reaction to the verdict; three said they were concerned about personal safety.

The white male juror who was related to a Cincinnati officer said, “I have a family and there are a lot of crazy people in the world, so I guess I would be concerned that … someone could do something to a juror after the trial.”

Another white male juror said he did not like controversy or anger. “I realize people have strong convictions and there will be angry people no matter what the outcome,” he wrote.

It was during the trial when fear would emerge. After being told the media had requested the questionnaires – but not that no media intended to name jurors – jurors became concerned on Friday, Nov. 4. Shanahan’s bailiff wrote in an affidavit seven to eight jurors were in fear for their safety. And an alternate juror with a specific public job was excused after expressing concern that she could be identified because of her occupation.

The Enquirer relented on seeking the questionnaires at that time, but fought for the records following the conclusion of the case, arguing the public has a right to know because the First Amendment requires the questionnaires to be publicly available.

“Public review ensures that jury selection system proceeds with integrity and fairness,” said The Enquirer’s attorney, Jack Greiner, in a hearing Monday. At that hearing, Judge Shanahan agreed to release redacted documents on Tuesday.

Jurors deliberated for 25 hours but failed to come to a unanimous decision on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. Deters has said three or four jurors would have voted to convict on the murder charge, but without others they modified their vote to convict on the manslaughter charge.

More jurors agreed with that charge, the final vote being 8-4 to convict, Deters said.

The case will be re-tried next year.

Contributing: Enquirer reporters Cameron Knight and Jason Williams