Opinion ID: 1610324
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Racial Bias

Text: Robinson also asserted in the Successor Motion that newly discovered evidence establishes that his prosecution and sentencing were impermissibly racially motivated. Specifically, he claims that in St. Johns County there exists a racial disparity in the imposition of the death penalty. To support this claim, Robinson introduced statistical data compiled by Dr. Michael Radelet, a sociology professor who has studied racial bias in the context of the death penalty. First, we note that Robinson previously argued this claim in a habeas petition to this Court, which we denied on the merits in Robinson v. Moore, 773 So.2d 1, 5-6 n. 4 (Fla.2000). Therefore, this claim is procedurally barred. See Owen v. Crosby, 854 So.2d 182, 187 (Fla.2003) (stating that claims that were raised or could have been raised in a prior postconviction motion are procedurally barred unless such claims are based on newly discovered evidence). Second, as the trial court pointed out, although Robinson claims that Dr. Radelet's data has been revised and updated, the statistical evidence presented at the recent hearing was consistent with the statistical evidence presented in this case in 1994. Thus, Dr. Radelet's proffered testimony could not have been properly offered at the recent evidentiary hearing as newly discovered evidence. See Jones, 709 So.2d at 521. We also find no error in the trial court's determination that Robinson has still failed to show exceptionally clear proof of racial discrimination by the State with respect to this case. See McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 319, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987) (finding that although the defendant made wide-ranging arguments that basically challenge the validity of capital punishment in our multiracial society, the judicial system is to consider on a case-by-case basis the issue of whether the law was properly applied); Foster v. State, 614 So.2d 455, 463-64 (Fla.1992) (finding that the defendant failed to prove that the prosecutor acted with purposeful discrimination in seeking the death penalty in his case and stating that the racial statistical figures presented did not constitute `exceptionally clear proof' of discrimination). Therefore, we affirm the trial court's denial of Robinson's claim of racial bias in his prosecution and sentencing.