Washington v. People

I. Introduction

We granted certiorari review of two cases, People v. Washington, 179 P.3d 153 (Colo.App.2007), and People v. Sayles No. 04CA0780, 2007 WL 2009732 (Colo.App. July *59612, 2007) (not selected for publication), in which the defendants claimed that the jury-selection process in Arapahoe County systematically excluded an unfair and unreasonable number of African-Americans and His-panies, such that the juries in their cases failed to represent a fair cross-section of the community in violation of their constitutional rights.1

At issue in both cases is whether the practice of giving double…