A deputy prosecutor’s comments about a potentially biased jury to an African American defendant during plea negotiations violated his due process rights, a Washington Court of Appeals held last week, concluding the defendant should be allowed to withdraw his plea.
During a pretrial meeting, a Franklin County prosecutor allegedly told the defendant, Lance Ray Horntvedt, that his trial would “not necessarily be a jury of [his] peers” and “it [would] be a jury of our peers,” while gesturing to herself and Horntvedt’s attorney, both of whom are white.
