The failure of a Bronx trial judge to address alleged racial bias among jurors has led a federal judge to order that a man convicted of manslaughter be retried or released from prison.

Judge Kimba Wood (See Profile) granted a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to Bledar Haxhia, whose trial was marred when a black juror said she or he had been called a racial slur amid extreme tension in the jury room and the trial judge declined to investigate and ordered deliberations to continue.