Can an accused demand that members of her race be included on the jury?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Pigeon, 2009 BCSC 516 (CanLII):
By this quote I accept that an accused has no right to demand that members of her race be included on the jury. As stated by Matas J. in Regina v. Kent, supra, a jury of peers is not made up of persons of the same race, culture or language, but rather it is their fellow citizens who make up their peers. Therefore, I conclude that it is the law that an accused is not entitled to a jury of any particular composition.
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