Supreme Court lets new trial ruling stand

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a ruling from Missouri's highest court ordering a new trial for a man who had been sentenced to death for a street killing.

Missouri's court said prosecutors wrongly excluded potential jurors because of their race.

Vincent McFadden, of Pine Lawn, was convicted of first-degree murder and armed criminal action by a St. Louis County Circuit Court jury in the July 2002 shooting death of Todd Franklin.

At trial, the state used five of its nine peremptory challenges to remove black potential jurors, leaving only one black person to serve on the jury.

The Supreme Court, in a 4-3 opinion in May, said the action was racially discriminatory and that it didn't accept the state's given reasons for striking the jurors. Among other things, the state claimed some of the jurors were not appropriate because they were familiar with the area where the crime occurred, but the court said some white members of the jury had similar knowledge but were not removed.

Prosecutors said McFadden was a member of the 6 Deuces gang, and that Franklin had testified against two of McFadden's fellow gang members who robbed Franklin and were sent to prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision.

The attorney general's office did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.

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Missouri case is SC86857, State vs. Vincent McFadden.

On the Net:

Missouri Supreme Court: http://www.courts.mo.gov/page.asp?id=27