#20 McCleskey v. Kemp

Facts of the Case

One day in Atlanta, Georgia, 4 armed men entered the Dixie Furniture Store with the intent to rob the place. One man entered from the front of the building and rounded up the customers, while the other 3 men came in through the back of the building and tied up the employees. During the initial stages of the robbery, and unbeknownst to the robbers, a silent alarm had been triggered, resulting in an Atlanta police officer responding to and entering the store. While there were no witnesses to exactly what happened next, as the officer walked down the center aisle of the store, 2 shots rang out, and the officer was struck twice and killed.

As far as we know no one was apprehended at the scene, but 4 men were eventually arrested for the crime. One plead guilty and agreed to testify against the other 3 in exchange for a 20-year sentence for armed robbery. Two were tried together and convicted of armed robbery and murder, with each getting life sentences. The last individual, WM, was tried alone for armed robbery and murder.

Prior to the trial, WM reportedly admitted to police to that he had been involved in the robbery, though he denied shooting the police officer. At his trial, he renounced his confession entirely and presented an alibi for his whereabouts on the day.

In response, the prosecution presented a case that included the following:

• Witness testimony of a man fleeing the scene with a pearl-handled pistol;
• Witness testimony that WM had stolen a pearl-handled pistol earlier in the day with the same caliber as the gun that killed the officer;
• Testimony from the other robber that WM carried a pearl-handed pistol during the robbery; and
• Testimony from the other robber that WM had admitted to shooting the officer.

Ultimately WM was found guilty of armed robbery and murder.

Following the conviction, the prosecution sought the death penalty, which triggered a second hearing. This is because under GA/U.S. law, death penalty cases require two separate hearings. The first determines guilt, the second is for sentencing and requires a jury to find at least one aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt was present in order to apply the death penalty. In this case, there were 2 aggravating circumstances found by the jury: first, that the murder occurred during an armed robbery, and second, that the victim of the murder was an officer engaged in their official duties. The defense provided no mitigating circumstances.

Given the aggravating circumstances, the jury recommended that WM be sentenced to death for the murder and consecutive life sentences for the armed robbery charges. The judge accepted the recommendation and so WM received the death penalty as his sentence for the murder of the Atlanta police officer.

As you might expect, WM appealed his conviction and sentence – numerous times in fact. A few of those appeals, on various grounds we’re not going to explore in this episode, did make it all the way to the Supreme Court, and with each one the court declined to provide any relief.

It just so happens that several academics, David Baldus, George Woodworth, and Charles Pulaski, were conducting research into Georgia’s death penalty. They were trying to use new research methods to determine whether there were any disparities in how the death penalty was applied, and between two separate reports they argued that the race of the victim did impact whether or not prosecutors would seek the death penalty, and whether or not juries would apply it.

Armed with these studies, WM’s legal defense team challenged his sentence by arguing in District Court that bias in the system meant that the system itself violated WM’s 8th Amendment freedom from cruel and unusual punishment and his 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. The District Court rejected the constitutional claims, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit concurred.

So, the question for our justices is: should WM’s death sentence be thrown out because statistical evidence of racial bias in the application of the death penalty means that Georgia’s system violates WM’s 8th and 14th amendment rights?

Ruling of the Relitigated Justices

Click here to show how the Relitigated justices ruled on the case…

Votes By Party

McCleskey

3

Argued by Nikki

v.

Kemp

0

Argued by Jarret

Votes By Justice

Chief Justice Chris

McCleskey

Justice Graham

McCleskey

Justice Preston

McCleskey

References