The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Alabama's appeal of a federal appellate ruling that found Montgomery County prosecutors deliberately excluded Black jurors from the 1990 trial of Michael Sockwell. The decision leaves intact a 2-1 opinion from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and sets the stage for a possible new trial in a case that stretches back nearly four decades.
Sockwell, now 63, was convicted in 1990 of killing Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy Isaiah Harris. Harris was shot in the face in 1988 while on his way to work in what prosecutors described as a murder-for-hire allegedly arranged by Harris' wife. Sockwell has been on Alabama's death row ever since.
In June, the 11th Circuit issued its 2-1 opinion finding that Alabama prosecutors violated Sockwell's rights under the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law, by intentionally rejecting potential Black jurors believed to be more sympathetic to him. Judge Charles Wilson, who authored the opinion, wrote that prosecutors "repeatedly and purposefully" rejected qualified Black jurors. Wilson cited records showing Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Ellen Brooks struck a potential juror who was a Black man.
The Alabama Attorney General's Office petitioned the Supreme Court to review that decision. On Monday, the high court rejected the petition without comment.
The original trial itself carries a detail that deepens the constitutional stakes. The jury that convicted Sockwell voted 7-5 to recommend life imprisonment. A judge overrode that recommendation and imposed a death sentence instead. Alabama has since changed its law and no longer allows judges to override a jury's sentencing decision in capital cases. That the now-abolished judicial override produced a death sentence in a case where juror selection has been found to violate the Constitution underscores the gravity of the procedural failures here.
According to CBS News, A federal judge in November ordered that prosecutors must take steps by March 18 to pursue a new trial or Sockwell should be released from prison. A spokeswoman for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said Monday that the office intends to retry the case but declined to comment further.
Sockwell's attorney, Michael Rayfield, issued a statement after the Supreme Court's action.
We appreciate the Supreme Court's decision. Michael has been denied his right to a fair trial for more than 35 years. We'll continue to fight for his freedom.
Harris' wife was convicted of capital murder in connection with the deputy's killing. She was initially sentenced to death, but that sentence was later reduced to life in prison. Authorities have not publicly confirmed additional details about the scope of the alleged murder-for-hire arrangement beyond what prosecutors described at trial.
The March 18 deadline now looms as the critical date. Montgomery County prosecutors have signaled they will retry Sockwell, but the specifics of that effort, including charges, timeline, and whether the same evidence from 1990 can sustain a new prosecution nearly 36 years later, remain to be seen. Investigators and prosecutors will need to establish whether witnesses are still available and whether the original case file can withstand modern scrutiny.
A law enforcement officer was shot and killed on his way to work in 1988. The Constitution demands that the man convicted of that killing receive a fair trial. If Montgomery County prosecutors believe they have the evidence, they now have two weeks to prove they are serious about getting one.
