People v. Dessaure

On July 30, 1946, a Grand Jury, sitting with the County Court of Nassau County indicted the defendant for assault in the second degree and subsequently a trial jury found him guilty of that crime. The defendant is a Negro. Both before the trial and after it, he moved "for an order vacating the indictment herein found July 30, 1946 by the Grand Jury of Nassau County, on the ground that the said Grand Jury was unconstitutionally formed in that there was a systematic and intentional exclusion of Negroes from said Grand Jury". The Acting County Judge of Nassau County held a hearing on that motion…