Right before the press conference
started, about 30 minority prosecutors
crowded into a conference room to stand
behind District Attorney Bill Hill.
It is true
that there was a time, particularly in
the 1960s and 70s,
when racial bias was prevalent
in Dallas County,
both in the district attorney's office
and throughout the community.
But times have changed.
Hale says this time, Thomas
Miller l will get a fair trial.
He was convicted of killing an Irving
hotel clerk in 1985.
For now that the justices
have overturned the ruling and he gets a
new day in court.
Two decades ago, Billie Jean Fields'
was one of 19 blacks struck from
the jury pool for the Miller trial
because, according to the Supreme Court,
he was black, even though he believed
in the death penalty.
It's hard to know what they were thinking
in that particular case.
Hill says there are situations today
where it may seem that prosecutors strike
minorities more often.
A disproportionate number of minorities
are struck by the prosecution,
not because the color of their skin,
but because their own negative experience
with law enforcement.