In April, Alameda County (California) District Attorney Pamela Price announced that a federal district court judge had ordered the DA’s office to review all of the county’s 35 death penalty cases going back 30 years after evidence was discovered that prosecutors had systematically excluded Jewish and Black individuals from the jury pool during those years. Last week, Price stated that “motions have been filed requesting the resentencing of the death penalty convictions” of two of three cases “tainted by prosecutorial misconduct.” The two tainted cases involved Ernest Dykes and Keith Thomas. According to Price, the third case, that of Gregory Tate, resulted from changes in state law (The Racial Justice For All Act) and is not due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Ernest Dykes, whose case was the catalyst for the investigation when it was discovered during his appeal of his 1995 conviction for the killing of nine-year-old Lance Clark in 1993 that prosecutors excluded Jewish and Black jurors from his jury, will potentially be resentenced and released on parole in June 2025. Now 51, he has been on death row for 29 years. A decision on his resentencing is expected to be made next month.
Price also filed a motion requesting the resentencing of the 1997 death penalty conviction of Keith Thomas. He was convicted of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 25-year-old Francia Young in 1992 when he was 19. In a press conference, Price explained that she requested resentencing in his case because of the jury exclusion misconduct and because of the “racist imagery and stereotyping” the prosecutor used when referring to Thomas,” KQED reported. Thomas, who is now 51, has been on death row for 27 years.
Gregory Tate was sentenced to death in 1993 for the murder of Sarah LaChapelle in 1988. A resentencing motion for Tate was filed requesting that he be resentenced to life without the possibility of parole. “We are not conceding any wrongdoing,” in Tate’s case, Price said, according to the Berkeley Scanner. His hearing is scheduled for mid-August.
“I hope this is the beginning of many resentencings,” says Ann-Kathryn Tria, co-counsel for Ernest Dykes. “With the DAs in Alameda and Santa Clara expressing their intent to eliminate the death penalty in those counties, I’m hopeful that the tide is turning and the sentiment will spread.”
The investigation into whether there was prosecutorial misconduct in Alameda County death penalty cases will continue. According to CBS News, Price indicated that seven prosecutors in the DA’s office are under investigation for “suspicion of misconduct,” including Assistant District Attorney Michael Nieto, who Gov. Gavin Newsom recently nominated to serve on the Contra Costa County Superior Court. Price added that the other six were no longer at the DA’s office, but one is a current judge. She said there are many more cases to review, but it will be challenging as “more than 70% of them” have been “sanitized,” with racist, homophobic, and misogynistic notations removed.
