Former incarcerated man behind ‘Batson vs Kentucky’ ruling shares message to JCPS students

By Shaquille Lord

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    LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — Students at Central High School on Thursday learned how one Louisville man’s criminal case changed how juries would be selected in cases across the country.

James Batson can be seen preaching to the younger generation the importance of staying on the right path. His book “War on Jails” echoes that message.

“Try and help guide them away from any and all crime that’s raging in our neighborhood,” said Batson.

Batson, a Louisville native, speaks from real-world experience.

“You get started on fast money and there’s no telling where and when you’ll stop,” Batson told WLKY.

In 1982, Batson was convicted of second-degree burglary and receipt of stolen goods by an all-white jury.

During the jury selection, the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to strike all four black people from the jury pool. Batson appealed the conviction.

“My lawyer told me that it was a long-standing rule and I couldn’t object,” said Batson.

His case went all the way to the supreme court and the court ruled that the prosecutor’s action violated Batson’s rights to a fair trial. Decades later, this ruling is now known as the “Batson challenge” and is used as precedent to show it is unconstitutional to strike potential jurors based solely on their race.

That prosecutor in Batson’s case, Joe Gutmann, ironically enough, is now Batson’s friend and the teacher at Central High’s law magnet program.

“Never in a million years did I think 40 years ago that we would share the same space and we would have the same goal and that’s to keep kids out of trouble,” Gutmann told WLKY.

Batson would eventually be retried, convicted and serve time.

“His message is very clear – crime does not pay, it’s not good to spend time in prison or jail and that’s obviously a message we want everybody to hear,” said Joe Gutmann.

And that’s what Batson says he hopes these students take away from his time.

“I try to help who I can, every kind of way I can,” said Batson

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