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Through the 19th and early 20th century, written laws and unwritten practices discriminated against minority groups. A federal court case originating here in Edna helped to overturn some of those practices and advance the cause of civil rights. In August 1951, Pedro (Pete) Hernandez was arrested for killing Jose (Joe) Espinosa at the Gato Negro Cafe on Menefee Street. Two months later, an all-Anglo jury convicted Hernandez of murder with a sentence of life imprisonment. The district court and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the decision and refused new hearings. In response, attorneys Gustavo Garcia (1914-1964), Carlos Cadena (1917-2001), John Herrera (1910-1986) and James DeAnda (1925-2006) appealed Hernandez v. State of Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Until that point, most court decisions identified Hispanic citizens as White or Caucasian, classifying only African Americans as a group receiving "separate but equal" treatment under the law. Because Jackson County had excluded people of Mexican descent from serving on juries for at least 25 years, Cadena and Garcia argued that Mexican Americans were treated as "a class apart." On May 3, 1954, the court decided unanimously in favor of Hernandez and overturned his conviction. Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the opinion of the court, agreeing that Mexican Americans' exclusion from juries was "discrimination prohibited by the Fourteenth Amendment." Hernandez was later convicted of murder in a new trial in Refugio with Mexican Americans serving on the jury. After serving time in the state penitentiary, he was paroled.
Thus the first case argued by Mexican Americans before the Supreme Court, Hernandez v. State of Texas, was a landmark decision for Mexican American civil rights. The successful challenge widened the legal definition of discrimination beyond race and contributed to future victories in the civil rights movement. (2009) |
