People who think O.J. Simpson is innocent of murder can be excluded from serving on a Texas jury, an appeals court has ruled.
A Houston appeals court has signed off on a prosecutor’s decision to bar prospective jurors from a homicide case if they approve of Simpson’s acquittal on double-murder charges, the Texas Lawyer, a legal newspaper, reported yesterday.
In a 6-3 ruling, the judges noted that the prosecutor exempted black and white jurors who agree with the Simpson verdict.
The defendant in the case, Roy Neal Shelling Jr., was convicted of stabbing and shooting a male friend of his estranged wife in 1997, and is currently serving a life sentence. Prosecutor Victor Wisner said Shelling’s case was similar to Simpson’s.