McCleskey v. Kemp

Warren McCleskey was on trial because he participated in an armed robbery that resulted in the murder of a police officer. McCleskey was believed to have fired the shot. When McCleskey was sentenced to death he began a lengthy appeals process, eventually reaching the Supreme Court.

By the time it reached the Supreme Court, McCleskey’s argument was not over whether or not he had committed murder. He claimed that his rights had been violated because he was a black man who had killed a white man (racism). His strongest evidence of this was a study, “widely known as the "Baldus study," that indicated that juries in Georgia are far more likely to
impose the death penalty if the victim is white and most likely to impose the
death penalty if the victim is white and the murderer is black.” (Georgia Encyclopedia). McCleskey argued that his punishment violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, as he believed that he received this serious sentence as a result of racism.

After being convicted and sentenced, McCleskey went through many courts (county, state, and district levels). Eventually the case wound up in front of the Supreme Court, as it dealt with possible infringement on McCleskey’s constitutional rights.

The case was heard in 1987, and at that time the Chief Justice was William Rehnquist. The associate justices were William J. Brennan, Jr., Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, and Antonin Scalia. Many of these justices were nominated by conservative presidents, but the large number of fair rulings (in my opinion) and the number of well-known names (great proof, I know) leads me to not see any bias in the Rehnquist Supreme Court’s ruling.

The responsibility to prove that racism was to blame for McCleskey’s sentence fell
to McCleskey to prove. The Baldus Study was not enough to prove this. The Court
decided that even if the Baldus Study’s conclusions were true they could not prove that race was a factor in McCleskey’s case.

McCleskey was executed in 1991.

At some point (I was unable to determine exactly when) it came out that a witness who claimed he heard McCleskey confess to being the shooter was a policeplant. This means that no matter whether this evidence is true or not, it was illegally obtained. Nevertheless, it is not contested that McCleskey was part of the robbery, and if no one was specifically at fault for murder then all the participants would be at fault.

Justices Brennan, Blackmun, and Stevens dissented, with Brennan and Blackmun saying that McCleskey had proved enough to at least warrant more investigation. Justice Powell later said that if he could change one of his votes it would have been for this case.

I agree with the Court’s decision. It is important to consider that the Court did not issue the sentence, they only upheld it. In the most basic terms, the Court was like an NFL referee that reviews a questionable call but does not find sufficient evidence to overturn the ruling on the field. I think that the Court had no other option, because while racism is probably a part of the justice system there is absolutely no way to definitively prove that the death sentence was a result of discrimination. In terms of the sentence itself (which did not come from the Supreme Court), I can understand that it may seem harsh, but at the same time I feel little pity for anyone who kills someone who is trying to keep the peace. It all comes down to if you trust our justice system, and I do.

If anyone would like to read a full report, it is here. The begining has the entire backstory.