The Superior Court of Fulton County denied McCleskey’s extraordinary motion for a new trial. 0000003357 00000 n Since Furman v. Georgia (1972), the Court has been concerned with the risk of the imposition of an arbitrary sentence, rather than the proven fact of one. 0000001963 00000 n 0000001156 00000 n 5v��$T�x��\�>��1��8��@GCG�� ��@�I D2g�ę:@$#�dR� ����`�!�l&C�"J`"��P� ("�@v�@�� ���5%�"b�l;�;�'�?pp�f������� 2. [Majority: Powell, Rehnquist (C.J. 0000024755 00000 n McCleskey’s claim that these statistics are sufficient proof of discrimination, without regard to the facts of a particular case, would extend to all capital cases in Georgia, at least where the victim was white and the defendant is black. 0000011247 00000 n Implementation of these laws necessarily requires discretionary judgments. McCleskey then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Superior Court of Butts County. 0000004733 00000 n In support of his claim, McCleskey proffered a statistical study performed by Professors David C. Baldus, Charles Pulaski, and George Woodworth (the Baldus study) that purports to show a disparity in the imposition of the death sentence in Georgia based on the race of the murder victim and, to a lesser extent, the race of the defendant. . The unique nature of the decisions at issue in this case also counsels against adopting such an inference from the disparities indicated by the Baldus study. .

McCleskey v. Kemp.

The evidence at trial indicated that McCleskey and three accomplices planned and carried out the robbery.

0000010719 00000 n 0000012164 00000 n § 17-10-2(c).

At trial, the State introduced evidence that at least one of the bullets that struck the officer was fired from a .38 caliber Rossi revolver. The jury in this case found two aggravating circumstances to exist beyond a reasonable doubt: the murder was committed during the course of an armed robbery; and the murder was committed upon a peace officer engaged in the performance of his duties, § 17-10-30(b)(8). 0000004180 00000 n 1. A person commits murder “when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another human being.” Ga. Code Ann. 0000006117 00000 n McCleskey argues that the Baldus study compels an inference that his sentence rests on purposeful discrimination. This case presents the question whether a complex statistical study that indicates a risk that racial considerations enter into capital sentencing determinations proves that petitioner McCleskey’s capital sentence is unconstitutional under the 8th or 14th Amendment. II-A. James Moody, a jazz saxophonist, composer, and band leader, has been recognized worldwide as one of the early innovators of bebop. . The other three rounded up the employees in the rear and tied them up with tape.

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. [1]. But the nature of the capital sentencing decision, and the relationship of the statistics to that decision, are fundamentally different from the corresponding elements in the venire-selection or Title VII cases.

According to this model, black defendants were 1.1 times as likely to receive a death sentence as other defendants.

[Omitted.].

0000004456 00000 n 0000006391 00000 n 0000003636 00000 n We agree with the Court of Appeals, and every other court that has considered such a challenge, that this claim must fail. Thus, the Baldus study indicates that black defendants, such as McCleskey, who kill white victims have the greatest likelihood of receiving the death penalty. . [1] At the penalty hearing, the jury heard arguments as to the appropriate sentence. 0000011467 00000 n 0000009696 00000 n McCleskey secured the front of the store by rounding up the customers and forcing them to lie face down on the floor. McCleskey v. Kemp: RACiSm AND THE DEATH PENALTY Warren McCleskey is a black man, a convicted murderer, who is currently awaiting execution in a Georgia state penitentiary.1 McCles- key was sentenced to death for the murder of a white police officer by a Georgia trial court on the recommendation of the convicting jury.2 Warren McCleskey challenged his death sentence on the … ���0�c� �@Y�jA�#�-�O�/��T�#�#�0%D�Y �P���R�. %%EOF

0000006668 00000 n McCleskey offered no mitigating evidence. Justice Blackmun, with whom Justice Marshall and Justice Stevens join, and with whom Justice Brennan joins in all but Part IV-B, dissenting. Dissenting: Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, and Stevens.] Located in Midtown Atlanta, the High Museum of Art is one of. Accordingly, we hold that the Baldus study is clearly insufficient to support an inference that any of the decisionmakers in McCleskey’s case acted with discriminatory purpose. 0000002809 00000 n McCleskey v. Kemp is a profound decision because it essentially shielded the criminal justice system, as a whole, from claims of racial bias.

The Text Widget allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. The jury convicted McCleskey of murder. startxref . 0000032840 00000 n Similarly, Baldus found that prosecutors sought the death penalty in 70% of the cases involving black defendants and white victims; 32% of the cases involving white defendants and white victims; 15% of the cases involving black defendants and black victims; and 19% of the cases involving white defendants and black victims. The manager was forced at gunpoint to turn over the store receipts, his watch, and $6. Dissenting: Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, and Stevens.]. %PDF-1.7 %���� Furthermore, counsel would feel bound to tell McCleskey that defendants charged with killing white victims in Georgia are 4.3 times as likely to be sentenced to death as defendants charged with killing blacks. 0000003080 00000 n McCleskey entered the front of the store while the other three entered the rear.
. 0000000016 00000 n The Supreme Court of Georgia denied McCleskey’s application for a certificate of probable cause to appeal the Superior Court’s denial of his petition and this Court again denied certiorari. The Baldus study is actually two sophisticated statistical studies that examine over 2,000 murder cases that occurred in Georgia during the 1970’s.

Furman held that the death penalty “may not be imposed under sentencing procedures that create a substantial risk that the punishment will be inflicted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.” Godfrey v. Georgia (1980). Finally, the assessment would not be complete without the information that cases involving black defendants and white victims are more likely to result in a death sentence than cases featuring any other racial combination of defendant and victim. McCleskey, a black man, was convicted of murdering a police officer in Georgia and sentenced to death. Wayte v. United States (1985). ), White, O’Connor, and Scalia. Thus, to prevail under the Equal Protection Clause, McCleskey must prove that the decisionmakers in his case acted with discriminatory purpose. The Georgia Code contains only one degree of murder. h�b```e``�����`�� �� ,�@��c���霞�����3F�&�X�0��������y]vR����[���'.��b`�9���>z���n]��q"�J�����ß,3>�%E���6���l8�B��t���Zʜk���[��|�.�?�58,�p�K���d��G�,U�z/�t�ʧZ�9^j�Z�Z3=V��������9j�h�բ� #u�������@̺��G?s��N�,�Ӧ-�w2�x�۲Ӊ+ne���[��q�N��ǥ{����{��g/Jv��;������r��_}��~�� In those cases, the statistics relate to fewer entities, and fewer variables are relevant to the challenged decisions. . 0000005285 00000 n McCleskey’s convictions arose out of the robbery of a furniture store and the killing of a white police officer during the course of the robbery. Facts: Defendant, a black man, was convicted of two counts of robbery and one count of murder. . In 1987, in a case called McCleskey v.Kemp, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people charged with crimes must do more than offer proof of discrimination in order to … 359 0 obj Finally, McCleskey’s statistical proffer must be viewed in the context of his challenge. View NGE content as it applies to the Georgia Standards of Excellence. The story could be told in a variety of ways, but McCleskey could not fail to grasp its essential narrative line: there was a significant chance that race would play a prominent role in determining if he lived or died. Stuckey's was born in the 1930s just as automobile traffic began to increase to and from Florida along the Eastern Seaboard. .

From 2005 to 2009, prosecutors in Houston County, Alabama, used their peremptory challenges to remove ___ percent of the African Americans qualified for jury service in cases in which the death penalty was eventually. Both struck the officer. As he was walking down the center aisle of the store, two shots were fired. Mr. Justice Powell delivered the opinion of the Court.

0000005563 00000 n Williamson S. A program of Georgia Humanities in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, and the Office of the Governor. During the course of the robbery, a police officer, answering a silent alarm, entered the store through the front door. Baldus subjected his data to an extensive analysis, taking account of 230 variables that could have explained the disparities on nonracial grounds. 0000009138 00000 n 359 43 0000006942 00000 n Mr. Justice Powell delivered the opinion of the Court. A candid reply to this question would have been disturbing. His petition raised 18 claims, one of which was that the Georgia capital sentencing process is administered in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the 8th and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution. Short of direct, “smoking gun” proof of racism, the racial bias in our criminal justice system, as proven by the Baldus study, is … In McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987), the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to racial discrimination in the use of the death penalty.

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