An appeals court in California overturned the convictions of a trio of Black men charged with a double murder on Friday, determining prosecutors rejected a Black woman from the jury for racial reasons, according to the Associated Press.   

According to the court’s decision, Contra Costa County lead prosecutor dismissed a 25-year-old Black woman from the jury for reasons that “were plainly tied to race, and in particular to the prosecutor’s negative preconceptions of the (Black Lives Matter) movement,” the East Bay Times reported.   

Division One of the First Appellate District of California said former Deputy District Attorney Melissa Smith asked questions to the potential juror that were “inappropriate” for the double murder trial.   

The three men, Sheldon Silas, Reginald Whitley and Lamar Michaels, are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole over the deaths of Christopher Zinn and Brieanna Dow, per AP. 

Per reports, Smith dismissed six Black people from the jury pool in the October 2015 trial.    

“Given the prosecutor’s inappropriate questioning about Black Lives Matter, the absence of any clear and legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons for striking Juror 275, and the evidence of at least some historical discrimination by the prosecutor and other district attorneys in her office, the court’s finding that defendants failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination lacked substantial evidence,” Justice Jim Humes wrote.   

Despite the overturned conviction, the district attorney’s office told the East Bay Times that the office “is reviewing the opinion of the court. At this juncture, we intend to retry the defendants and ensure justice in this case.”  

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