The University of the District of Columbia Law ... - UDC Law Review

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42 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICf OF COLUMBIA LAW REVIEWcutor's racial discrimination against African American defendants. For example,in 1997 during the election campaign for Philadelphia's District Attorney, one ofthe candidates (an Assistant D.A.) had a training video for new prosecutorswhich instructed them on whom to exclude from the jury.71 The video instructedthem not to select young black women and blacks from low income areas because"'young black women are very bad' to have on the jury and 'blacks from lowincomeareas are less likely to convict.'" The video also demonstrated ways fornew prosecutors to hide racial motivation in their jury strikes.72In Missouri, the highest court reversed an African American defendant'sdeath sentence when it was shown that the prosecutor used racial slurs whenreferring to African Americans. 73 In addition, the prosecutor excluded blackpersons from the jury and refused to plea bargain with African American defendantswho were charged with murdering white persons?4 Moreover, the prosecutoroffered plenty of plea bargains to white defendants, even in a case wherepersons had murdered four generations of African Americans?5The U. S. General Accounting Office conducted a study in 1995 on capitalpunishment. From that study, the GAO concluded that the way prosecutors pleabargainwith defendants can adversely impact African Americans and interferewith the GAO Sentencing Commission's goal of eliminating racial disparity in thecapital sentencing process?6 Thus, the study recognized the racial discriminationused by prosecutors against African American defendants.Prosecutors also try to ensure that African Americans will receive the deathpenalty by using their peremptory challenges to strike African American jurorsfrom serving on the jury. This process is usually referred to as the "death qualification.,,77Thus, only one side of the community is present (white persons),which also channels in racial discrimination by bringing in one race's stereotypicalviews about another race. For example, in Lingo v. State, a Georgia prosecutorprevented African American jurors from participating in the trial by using alleleven of his peremptory challenges against them, enabling him to have an allwhite jury,1B There was another case in Alabama, where a prosecutor used 26 ofhis peremptory challenges to exclude African Americans from serving as jurors.71 Dieter, supra note 1, at 4 (citing M. Janofsky, Under Siege, Philadelphia's Criminal JusticeSystem Suffers Another Blow, N.Y. TImes, Apr. 10, 1997).72 [d.73 Bright, supra note 5, at 471 (citing State v. Taylor, 18 S.W.3d 366 (Mo. 1993); State v. Nunley,923 S.W.2d 911 (Mo. 1993».74 [d.75 [d.76 Weatherspoon, supra note 22, at 25.77 Bright, supra note 5, at 454.78 [d. at 455 (citing Lingo v. State, 437 S.E.2d 463 (Ga. 1993».
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: 21ST CENTURY LYNCHING 43In addition, he categorized the potential jurors into four lists: "strong," "medium,""weak,"and "black.,,79In Holland v. Illinois, Justice Marshall argued in his dissent that, "'raciallydiscriminatory applications of peremptory challenges improperly harm constitutionallyprotected values whether or not the defendant and [the] excluded Uurors]are from the same racial group.' "so The evidence is clear that prosecutorsracially discriminate against African Americans to ensure that a death sentencedis imposed. District Attorney Ed Peters of Mississippi publicly announced thathis policy is to "get rid of as many black citizens as possible when exercising hisperemptory challenges to select a jury."Sl He was never reprimanded for hisstatement. Is this justice? Courts have done nothing to weed racist prosecutorsout of the justice system. Instead, the courts support the prosecutors' decisions,instead of investigating the situation. Justice Brennan along with Justices Marshall,Blackmun, and Stevens stated that, "'the discretion afforded prosecutorsand jurors in the Georgia capital sentencing system, creates such opportunitiesfor racial considerations to influence criminal proceedings.' "S2The jury, which plays a vital part in the capital sentencing process, has beenknown to discriminate against African Americans. There have been many casesin which the jury was interviewed after the trial and stated that they used racialslurs when talking about African American defendants in capital sentencingcases. For example, jurors in Georgia, admitted using racial slurs during deliberations.Despite that fact, the court upheld the death penalty, stating that theevidence "'shows only that two of the twelve jurors possessed some racialprejudice and does not establish that racial prejudice caused those two jurors tovote to convict [the defendant] and sentence him to die.",s3When jurors have stereotypical beliefs about African Americans, their beliefswill surface in their decision-making process. These racist beliefs can prevent ajuror from considering other evidence about the defendant's life and backgroundas mitigating circumstances. s4Defense attorneys also bring in racial discrimination which can hurt their clients'chances of prevailing on a death penalty charge. For example, in Dobbs v.Zant, the defense lawyer expressed his racist views about African Americans.Despite the lawyer's assertion, the District Court and Court of Appeals affirmedthe defendant's conviction, stating that the defense attorney was not the person79 ld. at 448.80 Christopher E. Smith, Race-lng into the Twenty-First Century: The Supreme Court and the(E) Quality of Justice, 28 U. Tol. L. Rev. 279, 291 (1997) (citing Holland v. Illinois, 493 U.S. 474 (1990)(Marshall, J. dissenting».81 Bright, supra note 5, at 447.82 See McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 333.83 Bright, supra note 5, at 447.84 Bright, supra note 6, at 22.
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