
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990                   TAG: 9003300201
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALBANY, N.Y.                                LENGTH: Short

COURT PROHIBITS REJECTING JURORS BASED ON RACE

New York's highest court on Thursday upheld the manslaughter convictions of three men found guilty in the Howard Beach racial attack case.

Jon Lester, Scott Kern and Jason Ladone had appealed their convictions, contending their lawyers were wrongly prohibited from rejecting blacks as jurors.

Lester, Kern and Ladone, all white, were convicted in 1987 of manslaughter, assault and conspiracy for attacking three black men in the predominantly white Howard Beach section of Queens, N.Y.

The case before the state Court of Appeals centered on whether a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits prosecutors from excluding jurors based on race also applies to defending lawyers. The presiding judge in the Howard Beach case had applied that standard to defense lawyers.

by CNB