Opinion ID: 1759877
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Discrimination: Race of the victim and race of the offender.

Text: ¶ 183. Scott argues that there is discrimination on the application of the death penalty in Mississippi. In this case, Scott, a black male, was convicted of killing Lee, a white male. He claims that because he is a black defendant and the victim is white, the race differences increases his chances of receiving the death penalty by 500%. Scott suggests a reexamination of McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987). ¶ 184. The State argues that Scott never raised this issue at trial, and it is therefore barred. In the alternative, the State claims that Scott conceded that his argument is legally insufficient. Indeed, the brief filed by Scott contains a section starting at issue XXII entitled as preservation issues with a footnote stating: As this is a capital case, Appellant has raised several issues which either this Court or the United States Supreme Court has previously overruled. Appellant concedes the following issues are foreclosed by existing precedent of the court and under a normal appeal he would not address these issues; death, in its finality and byzantine rules of procedure, is different. These issues are raised solely on a good faith basis to provide this Court an opportunity to review its or the United States Supreme Court holdings (where so possible), as well as to protect Scott's full panoply of rights should counsel have misguaged [misgauged] the perceived strength of the issues raised herein and this Court deny Scott relief. Finally, Scott presents these issues in order to preserve these issues for federal review, either by the Supreme Court or lesser federal court. In McCleskey, the Court stated: Our analysis begins with the basic principle that a defendant who alleges an equal protection violation has the burden of proving the existence of purposeful discrimination.  Whitus v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545, 550, 87 S.Ct. 643, 646, 17 L.Ed.2d 599 (1967).[FN10] A corollary to this principle is that a criminal defendant must prove that the purposeful discrimination had a discriminatory effect on him. Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598, 608, 105 S.Ct. 1524, 1531, 84 L.Ed.2d 547 (1985). Thus, to prevail under the Equal Protection Clause, McCleskey must prove that the decisionmakers in his case acted with discriminatory purpose. He offers no evidence specific to his own case that would support an inference that racial considerations played a part in his sentence. Instead, he relies solely on the Baldus study.[FN11] McCleskey argues that the Baldus study compels an inference that his sentence rests on purposeful discrimination. 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. McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 292-93, 107 S.Ct. 1756 (footnotes omitted). Therefore, pursuant to McCleskey, Scott has the burden of proving the existence of purposeful discrimination and in that he must prove that the decisionmakers in his case acted with discriminatory purpose. Id. Scott has cited no instance in the record where the decisionmakers in his capital murder case acted with a discriminatory purpose. In McCleskey, the United States Supreme Court found that the study was insufficient to support an inference that any of the decisionmakers in McCleskey's case acted with discriminatory purpose. Id. at 297, 107 S.Ct. 1756. In the case sub judice, Scott only cites to some studies. In Underwood v. State, 708 So.2d 18, 38 (Miss.1998), this Court reviewed whether the death penalty can be applied fairly or in compliance with equal protection when it is allegedly disproportionately applied against black defendants in Mississippi. This Court held: The United States Supreme Court rejected this identical argument in McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987). McCleskey argued that Georgia's capital punishment statute violated equal protection, based upon a study showing that black defendants were more likely to be sentenced to death than white defendants, and defendants murdering whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than defendants who murdered blacks. McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 291-92, 107 S.Ct. at 1766-67. The Court held that in order to raise a successful claim of an equal protection violation, the criminal defendant must prove that the decisionmakers in his case acted with discriminatory purpose. Id. at 292, 107 S.Ct. at 1767. McCleskey's only proof supporting his claim were the results of the study. The Court determined that due to the number of variables inherent in capital sentencing and the discretion allowed trial courts in implementing criminal justice, the use of statistical evidence was insufficient to prove purposeful discrimination. Id. at 292-97, 107 S.Ct. at 1767-70. Underwood has failed to offer any substantial proof that the death penalty is applied in a discriminatory manner in Mississippi today, or that he suffered discriminatory application of the law. Underwood's argument is based solely on insufficient statistical evidence and the bald assertion that had he been convicted of murdering an African-American instead of a white woman, he would have been sentenced to life imprisonment. We refuse to reverse Underwood's sentence of death based upon this assignment of error. 708 So.2d at 38. ¶ 185. This Court finds that Scott has not shown any proof as to how the decisionmakers in his case acted with a discriminatory intent. Without specific examples demonstrating discrimination by the decisionmakers, we find that there is nothing for this Court to review and make a ruling, accordingly this issue is without merit.