Atlanta, GA – An Alabama death-row inmate convicted of killing his ex-wife and another nursing student in 1985 has won the right to a new trial.
Citing what it called an ``astonishing pattern'' of excluding blacks from his jury, a federal appeals panel found Wednesday that state courts had unreasonably applied established federal law in the case of Earl Jerome McGahee.
McGahee, who is black, was convicted in Dallas County Circuit Court for the 1985 killing of his ex-wife, Connie Brown, and Cassandra Lee, a student at George C. Wallace Junior College in Selma.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel noted ``the total exclusion of African-Americans in this county in which they comprised 55 percent and the strong evidence of race-based decision making'' in choosing a jury.
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