Alameda DA says 1986 death row case overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct
OAKLAND – Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said her office is weighing their options after a federal judge overturned the murder conviction of a man who was on death row for 33 years, due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Price announced Wednesday that the conviction of 71-year-old Curtis Lee Ervin was overturned following a review by California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office.
Ervin was among three people convicted in the 1986 murder-for-hire of Carlene McDonald. He was sentenced to death in 1991.
"Unfortunately, the California Attorney General determined after a review that the death sentence and conviction of Mr. Irvin could not stand due to serious prosecutorial misconduct by a member of the Alameda County District Attorney's Office at the time Mr. Ervin was convicted," the DA said.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Price said the misconduct centers on Assistant District Attorney James Anderson, who had served in the office for 35 years. According to the Bay Area News Group, Anderson retired from the DA's office in 2004.
"Anderson, during jury selection, he exercised his peremptory challenges in a way to exclude nine out of 11 Black jurors and one Jewish juror, that were denied the opportunity. The right to serve on a jury on a death penalty case," the DA said.
McDonald was white, while Ervin is black.
"This office did have a practice of excluding Black people and Jews from juries. And today as a result of that, the conviction was set aside...I now have the opportunity and the responsibility what will happen to Mr. Ervin," Price went on to say.
Price said her office has 60 days to make a decision on the case. She also said that the DA's office has spoken to McDonald's family and apologized.
Ervin remains in custody at a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facility. The two other co-defendants in the case are deceased.