Washington justices blast racist questioning by prosecutor

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously overturned a man’s conviction for assaulting police officers, blasting a series of racist remarks by the prosecutor who handled the case.

During jury selection in the trial against Joseph Zamora, Garth Dano, who was then the elected prosecutor in central Washington’s Grant County, repeatedly asked prospective jurors how they felt about illegal immigration, border security and crimes committed by illegal immigrants — even though Zamora was a U.S. citizen and the case had nothing to do with those topics.

The questions invoked racist stereotypes that violated Zamora’s right to a fair trial, the justices said. They also expressed concern with the vicious beating officers gave Zamora, which left him comatose. Chief Justice Steven González noted that “the jury was asked to decide, among other things, whether Joseph Zamora, a United States citizen, assaulted a police officer’s knuckles with the back of his head.”

“This case was not remotely related to immigration — lawful or unlawful,” Justice Charles Johnson wrote for the court. “The apparent purpose of the remarks was to highlight the defendant’s perceived ethnicity and invoke stereotypes that Latinxs are ‘criminally’ and ‘wrongly’ in the country, are involved in criminal activities such as drug smuggling, and pose a threat to the safety of ‘Americans.’”

The decision introduced a new rule in Washington that when a prosecutor “flagrantly or apparently intentionally appeals to a juror’s potential racial or ethnic prejudice, bias, or stereotypes,” it requires automatic reversal of any conviction.

Previously, prosecutors had a chance to demonstrate that race-based misconduct did not affect the outcome of the case and was “harmless.”

Dano was elected in 2014...