Thirty-five death penalty cases in Alameda County are under review after prosecutors were accused of intentionally excluding Black and Jewish people from juries. The bombshell investigation began with the case of Ernest Dykes, who was sentenced to death in 1995 for murdering a landlord’s grandson and shooting the victim’s mother. Old handwritten notes reveal a strategy to exclude certain demographic groups from the jury pool, potentially violating defendants’ rights to fair trials. The review could lead to re-sentencings or retrials for convicted murderers.