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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Castaneda v. Partida
Citation:
430 U.S. 482 (1977)Facts
Rodrigo Partida was indicted in March 1972 by a grand jury in Hidalgo County, Texas, for burglary of a private residence at night with intent to rape. After conviction, he challenged the grand jury selection process, presenting evidence that while Mexican-Americans constituted 79.1% of the county’s population according to the 1970 census, they represented only 39% of persons summoned for grand jury service over an 11-year period. The Texas “key-man” system of grand jury selection relied on jury commissioners appointed by a district judge to select prospective grand jurors. In Partida’s case, the judge who appointed the commissioners was Mexican-American, as were three of the five commissioners. The State offered minimal evidence to rebut Partida’s statistical showing, primarily the testimony of the state judge who appointed the commissioners. The District Court rejected Partida’s claim, partly based on the theory that Mexican-Americans constituted a “governing majority” in the county and would not discriminate against their own kind.
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