{"id":3083,"date":"2026-06-26T17:38:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3083"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:38:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:38:43","slug":"second-freed-death-row-prisoner-files-lawsuit-seeks-282-million-from-alameda-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3083","title":{"rendered":"Second freed death row prisoner files lawsuit, seeks $282 million from Alameda County"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A second freed death row inmate this month sued Alameda County for hundreds of millions of dollars, claiming he wrongfully spent most of his life in prison after prosecutors systematically kept Black jurors from sitting on his murder trial.<\/p>\n

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Ernest Dykes, 52, demanded the county pay $282 million in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal district court, significantly upping the stakes in a jury exclusion scandal that has led to the release of numerous formerly-condemned inmates. Another of those men sued the county earlier this month and sought even more money, bringing Alameda County\u2019s potential ledger for the alleged \u201csystematic discrimination\u201d of Black and Jewish people to $572 million.<\/p>\n

The attorney for both men, Brian Pomerantz, said the nine-figure damages sought in each case are meant to send a message that \u201cwe need our county officials to act responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want a jury to tell Alameda County \u2018Don\u2019t ever do this again,\u2019\u2009\u201d Pomerantz said. \u201cBecause I have absolutely zero confidence they\u2019ve learned their lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Alameda County District Attorney\u2019s Office declined to comment on the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

In 2024, a federal judge\u2019s ruling in Dykes\u2019 case blew open the scandal \u2014 detailing \u201cstrong evidence\u201d that prosecutors made a conscious effort to keep Black and Jewish people off juries based on their race and religion. Notes discovered in Dykes\u2019 case suggested \u201cprosecutors from the office were engaged in a pattern of serious misconduct, automatically excluding Jewish and African American jurors in death penalty cases,\u201d U.S. District Judge Vincent Chhabria wrote in his ruling.<\/p>\n

The ruling prompted then-District Attorney Pamela Price to review the cases of every person still condemned to die in the county, nearly three dozen in all. Many of them received new sentences and a chance at parole.<\/p>\n

In Dykes\u2019 case, Price\u2019s administration moved to re-examine Dykes\u2019 sentence just months after the federal judge\u2019s ruling. He ultimately pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder and second degree robbery, leading to a new 32-year prison term. He was subsequently released in August 2025.<\/p>\n

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Dykes had been sentenced to die in the 1993 killing of Lance Clark, the grandson of his one-time landlord, during a botched robbery. Dykes first shot the landlord in the neck \u2014 after which the bullet hit Lance, who was sitting in his grandmother\u2019s car. The boy died before reaching the hospital, just five days after his ninth birthday, according to court records.<\/p>\n

In his lawsuit, Dykes stressed the killing was \u201cunintentional\u201d and that he was \u201cimmediately remorseful for his actions,\u201d as evinced in the fact that he turned himself in and \u201ctearfully\u201d confessed.<\/p>\n

While seeking the death penalty, a prosecutor on the case \u2014 Colton Carmine \u2014 managed to keep any Black people from sitting on Dykes\u2019 jury, according to the lawsuit. Only one Black person even made it to a final phase of jury selection, which involved detailed questioning by prosecutors and defense attorneys.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claimed the potential juror\u2019s \u201cmiddle of the road, non-controversial answers\u201d were very similar to those of her white counterparts, yet Carmine still moved to strike her off the jury ahead of trial. He appeared to justify his decision by accusing the woman of \u201cdodging\u201d specific questions \u2014 despite the fact that \u201cnothing in the record suggests that her responses were improper or evasive,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

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Carmine\u2019s notes also suggested that he worked in other ways to keep all Black and Jewish people off Dykes\u2019 jury, specifically by grading them poorly based on their responses in the jury selection process. At one point, Carmine wrote of a potential Jewish juror that \u201cI liked him better than any other Jew But No Way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of discrimination has no place in the American justice system,\u201d said Dykes\u2019 lawsuit. \u201cIn any capacity it would be anathema to the rights enumerated in the Constitution, but its intrusion into a death penalty case is especially troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attempts by this news organization to reach Carmine were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

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“We want a jury to tell Alameda County ‘Don’t ever do this again,’\u2009\u201d the plaintiff’s lawyer said. “Because I have absolutely zero confidence they\u2019ve learned their lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSecond freed death row prisoner files lawsuit, seeks $282 million from Alameda County - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3083\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Second freed death row prisoner files lawsuit, seeks $282 million from Alameda County - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""We want a jury to tell Alameda County 'Don't ever do this again,'\u2009\u201d the plaintiff's lawyer said. 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