CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered a new trial, citing racial bias in the exclusion of two prospective minority jurors from the 2012 trial of a man who was sentenced to death for a 2003 slaying in Las Vegas.
The state high court ruling on Tuesday sends Julius Bradford's case back to Clark County District Court.
Bradford's attorney, Lisa Rasmussen, argued that jury selection was flawed, and justices unanimously found "structural error" in District Judge Doug Smith's decision to let prosecutors exclude a Hispanic and an African-American from the jury without holding hearings on the reason.
Bradford is now 32. He was arrested and charged in 2008 in the robbery and slaying of 40-year-old jewelry kiosk owner Anthony Limongello.
Bradford had been convicted previously of murder in the 2003 slaying of Benito Zambrano-Lopez in Las Vegas.
