Published on: Monday, August 16, 2021

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Monday vacated convictions because the trial court abused its discretion by failing to examine the prosecution’s peremptory strikes - exclusion of prospective jurors without reason - of at least one Black juror, denying Carter access to an impartial jury of his peers and subjecting the individual jurors to impermissible discrimination.

The case is Commonwealth v. Antwan Carter, SJC-11517 (Aug. 16, 2021).