Opinion ID: 491574
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Disparate Application of the Death Penalty

Text: 50 Elledge argues that the death penalty is applied in an unconstitutionally discriminatory manner in Florida. He points to empirical studies which indicate that, when the victim is white, the death sentence is imposed in Florida at an aberrationally higher rate. 51 The Supreme Court recently rejected this same claim as based on a study of Georgia's application of the death penalty. See McCleskey v. Kemp, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987). The Court concluded that a petitioner who raises such an allegation must prove that the decisionmakers in his case acted with discriminatory purpose. Id., 107 S.Ct. at 1766 (emphasis in original). Elledge's claim cannot pass this scrutiny.