New York riots convictions overturned

Two black men convicted in connection with the killing of a Jewish scholar during 1991 riots in a New York City neighbourhood have won a trial from a federal appeals court.

The court found a judge’s attempt to create a racially and religiously balanced jury was unconstitutional.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the convictions of Lemrick Nelson Jr and Charles Price, who are serving 20-year sentences for civil rights violations in the racially-charged case involving the killing of student Yankel Rosenbaum, that shook the city a decade ago.

The court said US District Judge David Trager’s effort to secure an unbiased jury was flawed, and instead gave the defendants a Jewish juror who had ‘‘expressed grave doubts about his ability to be objective’’.