When Andre Thomas, a 21-year-old Black man, was sentenced to death in 2005, it was at the hands of an all-white jury—a quarter of whom had openly expressed racist views during the jury selection process. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Thomas’s appeal based on the jurors’ biases.
While the court declined to hear Thomas’ case, the justices did hear oral arguments on another prominent Texas case. Rodney Reed, a Black man, was also convicted by an all-white jury for the murder of Stacey Stites, a white woman, in 1998. At issue this week was whether the state would test DNA that Reed’s team believes will exonerate him. Reed’s case has garnered national attention in recent years, with celebrities and politicians including Senator Ted Cruz expressing concerns about the original verdict.
The fact of Thomas’ guilt, on the other hand, was never in question. On the morning of March 27, 2004, he stabbed his estranged wife to death along with their 4-year-old son and her 13-month-old daughter. Afterward, Thomas turned the knife on himself, stabbing himself in the chest. After he survived his self-inflicted wounds, he turned himself in to the police. The crimes, his lawyers would later argue, were a frenzy brought on by a schizophrenic and psychotic episode. He was driven by religious fervor—he believed his wife and children were consorting with the devil.
