Jury selection bias means new trial in suit against troopers

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A black Indiana man who sued four Louisiana state troopers after being handcuffed and detained during a trip to New Orleans is entitled to have his case tried again because of racial discrimination in jury selection, a federal judge has ruled.

Lyle Dotson said he was illegally assaulted and detained by a group of troopers when he was visiting the French Quarter in 2015. The son of a Ball State architecture professor, Dotson was 17 at the time and was with members of his father's architecture class on a field trip to see New Orleans architecture.

During the class' stop to see the interior courtyard at Pat O'Brien's bar, Dotson's son could not enter because he was too young. The teenager arranged to meet the group at the bar's back entrance, but got lost.

He was stopped by troopers and, according to U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan's opinion, handcuffed while they checked his driver's license. When one trooper tried to take a photograph of Dotson, the teen did not consent and a struggle ensued. He was jailed briefly.

An assault case against Dotson was ultimately dismissed.

The jury that heard arguments in his lawsuit against troopers consisted of eight members - seven white and one black, according to court records.

After losing on most of his claims, Dotson asked Morgan to grant a new trial. In a decision dated Friday, Morgan agreed with Dotson that the troopers' lawyers had rejected a black potential juror for racial reasons. A new trial date has not been set.

Attorneys for troopers had asserted they struck one black potential juror because he had academic credentials that might make him favor Dotson, the son of a professor. Morgan noted in her Friday ruling that two other white jurors with academic backgrounds were not struck. Morgan acknowledged having allowed the strike of the black juror to stand at trial. "Upon further consideration, the Court concludes that Defendants' justification for striking (the juror) is simply not persuasive," she wrote.

"We look forward to a new trial where we will continue to seek justice for Lyle," Jim Craig, an attorney with the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center, which handled the case for Dotson, said in a Tuesday news release.

State police didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.