Jews Off the Jury

If true, the accusations in this story strain the limits of absurdity:

The California Supreme Court is asking the attorney general's office to explain why a convicted murderer's death sentence shouldn't be reversed based on allegations that a now-deceased Alameda County, Calif., judge colluded with prosecutors to ensure a capital conviction by keeping Jews off the jury.

The court on Wednesday issued an order to show cause based on defense lawyers' claims that convicted murderer Fred Freeman's 1987 trial was tainted when then-Superior Court Judge Stanley Golde allegedly told prosecutors to keep Jews off the jury because they would never vote to send someone to the gas chamber.

These allegations stem from statements obtained from the prosecutor in the case, which sounds pretty credible. It is still hard to imagine something like this going on in an American courtroom in 1987, but perhaps that is my naivete speaking.

Either way, the story leaves open the question of whether Jewish jurors really are that much more hostile to the death penalty. If so, does that hostility stems from the (implied) allusions to Nazi gas chambers, or from the more general leftward leanings of most American Jews?