Ex Parte Owen

Donald Lewis Owen was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to a term of life in the state penitentiary without the possibility of parole. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Owen's conviction, 586 So.2d 958, and we issued the writ of certiorari to review that court's holding that Owen, who is white, lacked standing to contest the State's use of its peremptory strikes to eliminate black venirepersons from the trial jury.

While Owen's case was on certiorari review in this Court, the United States Supreme Court decided Powers v. Ohio, ___ U.S. ___, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411…