San Mateo top prosecutor guilty of stealth racial bias in jury selection

October 26, 2009

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a conviction obtained by San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe and published its reason – racially discriminatory jury selection – stating: “overwhelming evidence indicating that the prosecutor [Wagstaffe] … acted with discriminatory intent when he struck M.C. [an African-American juror].”