Amicus Brief in Peea Rodriguez v. Colorado

Abstract

This United States Supreme Court brief for Amici Curiae Professors of Law supports the Petitioner’s claim that the Sixth Amendment compels an exception to the evidentiary bar to impeachment by juror testimony when there are allegations that jurors made racially biased statements during deliberations. The brief argues that the paramount constitutional concern with racial or ethnic discrimination against criminal defendants should override Rule 606(b), that juror testimony provides the only mechanism to expose such prejudice, that a narrow exception for explicit racial bias would not impose a weighty administrative burden, and that policy concerns with the integrity of jury deliberations are best served by exposing discriminatory animus.