The Hernandez V. Texas case began when Pete Hernandez shot and killed Joe Espinoza. Pete was a crippled Mexican agricultural worker, who was being made fun of by Joe at a bar when the incident happened. On October 8, 1951 attorney Gustavo Garcia, entered a plea of not guilty for Hernandez and argued that Hernandez wasn’t being offered an equal trial, due to there being no Mexican Americans in the jury. The court argued that by law Mexican Americans are white, and the jury was made up of white Americans therefore it was a fair and equal trial. Resulting in attorney Garcia taking the case to the supreme court.
