BREAKING: Justice Sotomayor Dissents from Dillion Compton’s Cert Denial

Dear Supporters,

We are disappointed that justice has been denied for our client Dillion Compton. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari review for Mr. Compton, despite the fact that the prosecutor excluded 13 of the 15 women eligible to serve on his jury. The prosecutor’s actions resulted in only 4 women serving on a jury of 12. 

Justice Sotomayor dissented. As Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, when a juror is excluded “based on the fact that she is a woman,” this “crosses the line into invidious discrimination.” You can read Justice Sotomayor’s full dissent here.

The U.S. Constitution prohibits prosecutors from picking jurors based on their race or their gender. Yet in so many cases, prosecutors exclude able jurors from service because of the color of their skin or because they are women—without any intervention from the courts. 

This widespread practice is to the detriment of our entire justice system. It means that the sentences our system produces do not reflect the views of our communities. Jennae Swiergula, Senior Counsel at Texas Defender Service and Mr. Compton’s lawyer, said: 

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We are disappointed that the Supreme Court left in place a clearly flawed decision that failed to meaningfully scrutinize whether the State of Texas engaged in gender discrimination during jury selection in a capital case. As Justice Sotomayor’s dissent makes clear, the evidence strongly suggests several women were struck from Mr. Compton’s jury because of their gender.

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With gratitude,