Brown

Defendant, who is African-American, asks us to reverse his conviction on the ground that for a 36-year-period up to and including the date of his grand jury indictment in 1995 no Chinese-Americans, Filipino-Americans or Hispanic-Americans had served as foreperson of a San Francisco indictment grand jury. He contends that the exclusion of these groups from the foreperson position is a denial of equal protection under the law and has abridged his right to due process. He further urges us to find that he was impermissibly denied his right to counsel during the proceedings of the grand jury and its presentment of the indictment against him.

By a petition for a writ of habeas corpus defendant reiterates his equal protection and due process claims, and seeks to bolster those challenges with evidence dating from the years following the denial of his motion to quash his indictment during the first of which he contends the sudden selection of forepersons with Hispanic and Chinese surnames establishes a race-conscious pattern of token inclusion.

I. Discussion

A. Background

1. History of this Case

William Marcus was killed on June 17, 1994, apparently in the course of a…