State v. Cofield, 320 N.C. 297

Summary

The Supreme Court of North Carolina held that racial discrimination in selecting a grand jury foreman violates the North Carolina Constitution and, where the defendant is a member of the allegedly excluded racial class, the federal Equal Protection Clause. The court further held that the defendant established a prima facie case based on the county's racial demographics and the historical underrepresentation of Black grand jury foremen. The case was reversed and remanded to allow the State an opportunity to rebut the prima facie showing.

Holdings

1. Racial discrimination in selecting a grand jury foreman violates Article I, sections 19 and 26 of the North Carolina Constitution, even when the grand jury itself was selected without discrimination.
2. When the defendant is a member of the class allegedly excluded, racial discrimination in selecting a state grand jury foreman violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, without regard to whether the foreman's duties are ministerial or whether the discrimination affected the grand jury's outcome.
3. A Black defendant may establish a prima facie case concerning grand jury foreman selection by showing either that the selection procedure was not racially neutral or that relatively few Black persons served as foreman over a substantial period despite a substantial Black population among grand jurors or in the county. Cofield's evidence satisfied the second alternative.
4. If the State fails to rebut the prima facie showing of racial discrimination in selecting the foreman of the grand jury that indicted defendant, the verdict and judgments must be set aside; defendant is not entitled to discharge because the State may reindict him.

Questions Presented

1. Whether racial discrimination in selecting a grand jury foreman from a nondiscriminatorily selected grand jury violates the North Carolina Constitution.
2. Whether racial discrimination in selecting a grand jury foreman violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause when the defendant is a member of the allegedly excluded racial class.
3. Whether defendant's evidence established a prima facie case of racial discrimination in the selection of the grand jury foreman.
4. What remedy is required if the State cannot rebut the prima facie showing.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded