SCOTUS weighs dispute over racial bias in Colo. jury room

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal from Colorado that claims a juror's ethnic slurs during deliberations were so offensive that they deprived the defendant of a fair trial.

Two jurors say a third determined that defendant Miguel Angel Pena Rodriguez was guilty of inappropriately touching teenage girls because Pena Rodriguez is "Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want."

The justices will hear arguments Tuesday and weigh how to reconcile two tenets of the American legal system that clash in Pena Rodriguez's case — trial by an impartial jury and secrecy in jury deliberations.