Legal Scholar James E. Coleman: Nearly all-White jury in Arbery killing highlights long-standing fears of racial bias in jury selection

As lawyers questioned potential jurors in court this week about their thoughts on the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, the Black man killed while running through a coastal Georgia town last year, some of the Black candidates turned to personal experience. For some legal experts, the outcome laid bare long-standing problems with the high-stakes task of assembling a fair jury, particularly when the racial makeup could affect the trial's outcome. Lawyers are not allowed to exclude jurors based on race, and the defense gave myriad reasons why they excluded certain jurors — statements that Arbery was "hunted like an animal," connections to his family and supportive social media posts among them. But many tied back to prospective jurors' experience as Black Americans.

"They have excluded people whose experiences are probably most relevant in a case like this," said Duke University law professor James Coleman Jr.

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