‘OUR BLOOD LINE’

Supreme Court Won’t Take Case of Black Death Row Inmate Convicted by All-White Jury

Andre Thomas was convicted of murdering his estranged wife and her two children by an all-white jury, three of whom expressed disapproval of interracial marriage.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up the case of an incarcerated Black man set to be put to death in Texas for killing his estranged wife and her two children, rejecting his lawyers’ argument of his jury’s racial bias. The high court turned down Andre Thomas’ bid 6-3, with Justice Sonia Sotomayer suggesting in a dissenting opinion that his murder conviction may have been “tainted.” In 2004, Thomas fatally stabbed his wife, Laura Boren, their 4-year-old son, and his 13-month-old stepdaughter. He said later that he had wanted to “set them free from evil,” according to court records. Soon after, Thomas turned himself in and confessed; while awaiting trial, he gouged out one of his own eyeballs. (Years later, according to NBC News, he gouged out the other and consumed it.) An all-white jury rejected his insanity plea a year later. During the selection process, according to Thomas’ lawyers, three jurors expressed disapproval of interracial marriage, with one saying it was “against God’s will” and another explaining “we should stay within our blood line.”