Defendant, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison, files a petition under the Racial Justice Act and requests appointment of counsel to press his petition. The trial court denies his request for counsel, but the Court of Appeal issues a writ. On the merits, everything the Court of Appeal does makes sense and is easily understood.
But footnotes 2 and 5, and the text accompanying them, are weird.
Defendant's underlying claim is that black defendants are illegally and disproportionately charged with murder and firearm enhancements. He's got some data that allegedly backs that up, so his basic RJA claim is that he was treated differently than similarly-situated white defendants. Classic stuff.
Here's the sentence in the opinion that corresponds to footnote two, alongside the footnote itself:
"In 2025, Lynex, who claims to be an
African American man,[2] filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus
under the Racial Justice Act. [Footnote 2]: (See fn. 5, post)."
The opinion then goes on to reproduce the chart that shows the number of defendants of each race charged with murder with a firearm allegation for 1998, 1999 and 2000, and drops footnote five, which reads:
"In a declaration Lynex filed in support of the petition, he
identified himself as an African American man."
What's super strange to me is that, as far as I can tell, no one disputes that Lynex is African American. He's not claiming to be Black. That seemingly indisputably is his race. So why the multiple footnotes that say that Lynex "claims" to be (or "identfie[s]" himself as) part of that race? Is there really a fight about this?
I understand that, at some level, someone's race may be indeterminate. I tried but failed to locate a picture of Mr. Lynex to see what I could see. What I did find, however, was a description of Lynex put out by the LAPD at the time of the underlying murder, which reads: "Witnesses described seeing a heavyset male Black, approximately 25 years-old, involved in a dispute with the victim. The confrontation escalated and the lone suspect fired several rounds, striking the victim. The suspect fled from the location and remains outstanding." So if Mr. Lynex is not, in fact, Black, I bet that was somewhat surprising to the LAPD when it arrested him, and ultimately obtained a conviction.
Now, maybe there's an underlying dispute somewhere about the race to which Mr. Lynex actually belongs, but if there is, I can see absolutely no evidence of it. I thought that, perhaps, Justice Bendix was simply being super careful never to classify someone on account of their race, but later in the opinion, when discussing someone else, Justice Bendix writes: "In McIntosh, a Black criminal defendant filed
a habeas petition raising claims under the Racial Justice Act, and
sought appointment of counsel to help him prosecute his petition." No caveat there about Mr. McIntosh "claiming" to be Black or anything like that. Unlike here.
I get it that race is a hot-button issue. I also fully understand that one's race is somewhat indeterminate, as well as the historical backdrop regarding this particular issue; e.g., the whole "one drop" thing.
But unless there's an actual dispute, most Racial Justice Act opinions -- or just opinions in general -- don't use qualifying language like "claim" or "identify" when referring to someone's race. So this one struck me as unusual, if only as a descriptive matter.
