United States v. Eric Boyd

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.

During jury selection preceding Eric Boyd’s trial for three armed bank robberies, his lawyer exercised a peremptory challenge against the only black member of the venire. Boyd did not protest, the prosecutor did not object, the jury convicted, and the judge sentenced Boyd to 650 months’ imprisonment. At sentencing it became clear that Boyd’s counsel had acted on racial stereotypes. He told the court that he believed that white jurors would defer to a black juror’s judgment about a black defendant, and counsel did not want Boyd’s fate to rest on his ability to…