An appeal from a Texas inmate on death row was rejected by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The inmate, who is Black, claimed that he didn’t have a fair trial because the jurors who convicted him did not support interracial marriage. The inmate pursued the appeal, despite admitting to the murders to which he was sentenced.
The Supreme Court was split on their decision, with the three liberal justices dissenting from the court’s order turning away the appeal from Andre Thomas.
Thomas was initially sentenced to death in 2004 after he was convicted of killing his estranged wife, who was white, and the two children they had together.
Thomas confessed to the killings of his 20-year-old wife, 4-year-old son, and 13-month-old daughter in 2004. He said that he did so because God commanded him to kill them. The victims were found stabbed to death and with their hearts ripped out.
Five days after Thomas was placed in jail, he plucked out one of his eyes. Then while on death row in 2009, he removed his other eye and reported that he had eaten it.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion for the three justices who supported the appeal from Thomas, saying that “No jury deciding whether to recommend a death sentence should be tainted by potential racial biases that could infect its deliberations or decision, particularly where the case involved an interracial crime.”
Joining Sotomayor’s opinion were Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Thomas had pointed out in his appeal that three of the jurors who presided over his case said they disapproved of interracial marriage. One wrote on a questionnaire that they thought “we should stay with our Blood Line.” Another said that despite his views, he could still be fair in the trial.
The trial went on with the jurors, as Thomas’ lawyer did not try to have them removed from serving on the jury. His lawyer also failed to question them about their views on race, according to Sotomayor.
The three justices supported overturning Thomas’ conviction and death sentence, but the majority turned down the appeal. It was also rejected by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. While before the appeals court, Thomas claimed his lawyer did not fairly represent him in the trial.
Nonetheless, Thomas will remain on death row for the murder of his family. There has not been an execution date set for Thomas as of yet.
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