The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday said no to an appeal by a death-row inmate convicted in two high-profile area murders.

The court had met in Hope, Ark., on May 3 to hear the appeal.

Mickey David Thomas, now 32, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Mona Lee Shelton, 46, owner of Cornerstone Monument Co. in De Queen, and Donna Marie Cary, 45, a truck driver from Gillham. Both women were found shot to death at the monument company on June 14, 2004.

Thomas was arrested the same day

Thomas attorney requested a change of venue due to pre-trial publicity. The trial was moved to Pike County, where Thomas, who is black, was convicted and given two death sentences by an all-white jury.

In the appeal, Thomas attorney argued the Pike County racial makeup 92 percent white and the lack of blacks on the jury violated Thomas right to a fair trial.

The court didnt see it that way.

Associate Justice Jim Gunter, writing for the court, said Pike Countys racial makeup was known at the time of venue change and any concerns could have been addressed at the time of the trial.

And he noted the jurors were picked randomly by computer without information regarding race.

‘We have held that when the jury venire is drawn by random selection, the mere showing that it is not representative of the racial composition of the population will not make a prima facie showing of racial discrimination’ Gunter wrote.

Discrimination still exists. But one should not automatically assume an all-white jury cannot deal justly with a black defendant anymore than one should assume an all-black jury would be less than just with a white defendant.

If there is valid evidence of discrimination, then by all means bring it out. But the racial makeup of a jury is not, in itself, an indication that a defendants rights have been violated.