Texas executed Ker'Sean Ramey, 41, by lethal injection on Sept. 23 for the 2005 killings of three neighbors during a robbery attempt to obtain cocaine. An appeals court rejected his latest jury-bias arguments this week.
Ramey's attorneys argued that jury selection was racially biased: the 2006 jury had 11 White members and one Latino, while court records say prosecutors struck at least nine Black prospective jurors. An appellate court rejected the bias claim, accepting prosecutors' explanation that one Black prospective juror was removed over her views on the death penalty.
Court records say Ramey's conviction relied largely on testimony, including LeJames Norman's; no DNA evidence linked Ramey to the scene, and a firearms examiner could not determine whether bullets from the victims matched the suspected weapons. Norman was executed Sept. 16. Tiffani Peacock's sister, Tabatha Hastings, said she wanted Peacock remembered for her life and did not view an execution as something to celebrate.
