Implicit bias instruction rejected in murder case

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted October 8, 2020 10:48 AM

Christopher Whetstone was the only African American in the courtroom when he was tried on a first-degree murder charge in Kane County. Trying to combat implicit bias, his lawyer started voir dire by asking about the racial diversity of a potential juror’s neighborhood. And the attorney wanted the judge to give the instruction on implicit bias used in California. But the judge — concluding that race wasn’t an issue in the case because the alleged victim was biracial — sustained an objection to the inquiry and declined to …

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