by BAR special correspondent Thandisizwe Chimurenga in Detroit
Wednesday, July 23...
Opening statements in the trial of Ted Wafer for the death of Renisha McBride will begin at 9 am EST today (Wednesday) in downtown Detroit. A jury of 7 men and 7 women was seated Tuesday afternoon in the case which has drawn national attention for its similarity to other high-profile cases such as that of Trayvon Martin in Florida and Jonathan Ferrell in North Carolina.
Wafer, a 54-year old airport maintenance worker, says he shot McBride in self-defense because he thought someone was breaking into his home and he feared for his life. The 19-year old McBride was involved in a car accident in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, 2013. Witnesses say McBride appeared to have been injured and disoriented. McBride’s family says she had been seeking assistance when she ended up on Wafer’s doorstep. Wafer described “loud banging” on his door. McBride is Black; Wafer is white.
Jury selection in the case began on Monday with a pool of more than 200 prospective jurors. Of those approximately 60 faced questions from Judge Dana Hathaway who conducted the voir dire process with some questions from both prosecutors and the defense. The prospective jurors represented a wide diversity in terms of race/ethnicity, ability and backgrounds. The 14-person jury contains two Black women, two Black men and three Middle Eastern/Arab Americans.
Bernita Spinks, McBride’s aunt, said she wasn’t trying to inject race into the trial but was concerned that a large number of African American women had been dismissed from the jury pool over the two day period. Wayne County Assistant District Attorney Danielle Hageman-Clark lodged a Batson complaint with the judge, stating that Wafer’s defense had used 5 of their 9 peremptory challenges to exclude Blacks from the jury. Cheryl Carpenter, lead defense attorney, insisted that her challenges were race neutral. “Race is not involved in this case,” she stated.
Carpenter attempted to counter the prosecution’s claim by saying that the prosecution had used a majority of its peremptory strikes against gun owners but was silenced by Judge Hathaway who told Carpenter she could not create a “reverse Batson.” Hageman-Clark chimed in that “[the complaint] had to be racial or ethnic, etc. - something unchangeable.”
In Batson v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court held that prospective jurors could not be arbitrarily dismissed from service simply because of their race.
Wafer is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and a felony weapons charge. If convicted he faces a maximum of life in prison for the 2nd degree murder charge, 15 years for manslaughter, and possibly two years for the felony gun charge.
The trial is expected to last 10 days
follow @idabeewells on Twitter for up-to-the-minute trial coverage.
BAR is privileged to carry these reports from our special correspondent several times weekly from the Detroit trial of Renisha McBride. Unlike everything else in BAR, these reports are the property of Thandisizwe Chimurenga and may not be reproduced without her written permission.
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