First Mexican-American Case to be Heard by U.S. Supreme Court

Pete Hernandez was an agricultural worker who was indicted for the murder of Joe Espinoza by an all Anglo (Strictly only white) grand jury in Jackson, County Texas. Hernandez and his attorney Gus Garcia had made the claim that Mexican-Americans were not included in the jury commission in which selected the actual juries, which is what led Hernandez and his attorneys to reject the indictment. The jury panel that was called for service had also come to the attention of Hernandez, he worked towards fighting against the fact that none of the people on the panel were of Mexican descent, they seemed to have been excluded. Once investigated even more, it had come to his attention that a Mexican-American had not served on a jury in Jackson County in over 23 years and thus, Hernandez claimed that Mexican ancestry were discriminated against as a special class in the Jackson County. When faced with this claim, the court had denied these actions. Hernandez was found guilty of murder and sentenced by the all white jury panel to life in prison. In affirming, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found that Mexicans are members of and within the classification of the white race as distinguished from members of the Negro Race¨ and rejected the petitioners argument that they were a special class under the meaning of the 14th Amendment. Is it a denial of the 14th. Amendment equal protection clause to try a defendant of a particular race before a jury where all persons of the individuals race, have in fact due to race been excluded by the state?