09 January 2009 :

Mariano Rosales Wins New Trial. After 23 years on Texas’ death row, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) client Mariano Rosales was granted a new trial. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas vacated Mr. Rosales' capital conviction and death sentence because his trial prosecutors improperly excluded African American and Latino prospective jurors because of their race in violation of Batson v. Kentucky. LDF represents Mr. Rosales along with the Texas Defender Service and the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP. Mr. Rosales will not be retried until after the conclusion of any and all appeals by the State of Texas. Mariano Rosales was convicted in the March 1985 shooting death of 14-year-old Rachel Balboa, one of four people shot in a Pasadena home where Rosales' wife was sleeping with another man.