Court Opinion

ID: 9473103
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:19:11.430639+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:19.031188
License: Public Domain

*920CLARK, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part and concurring in part *:
We are challenged to determine how much racial discrimination, if any, is tolerable in the imposition of the death penalty. Although I also join in Judge Johnson’s dissent, this dissent is directed to the majority’s erroneous conclusion that the evidence in this case does not establish a prima facie Fourteenth Amendment violation.

The Study

The Baldus study, which covers the period 1974 to 1979, is a detailed study of over 2,400 homicide cases. From these homicides, 128 persons received the death penalty. Two types of racial disparity are established — one based on the race of the victim and one based on the race of the defendant. If the victim is white, a defendant is more likely to receive the death penalty. If the defendant is black, he is more likely to receive the death penalty. One can only conclude that in the operation of this system the life of a white is dearer, the life of a black cheaper.
Before looking at a few of the figures, a perspective is necessary. Race is a factor in the system only where there is room for discretion, that is, where the decision maker has a viable choice. In the large number of cases, race has no effect. These are cases where the facts are so mitigated the death penalty is not even considered as a possible punishment. At the other end of the spectrum are the tremendously aggravated murder cases where the defendant will very probably receive the death penalty, regardless of his race or the race of the victim. In between is the mid-range of cases where there is an approximately 20% racial disparity.
The Baldus study was designed to determine whether like situated cases are treated similarly. As a starting point, an unan-alyzed arithmetic comparison of all of the cases reflected the following:
Death Sentencing Rates by Defendant/ Victim Racial Combination1

These figures show a gross disparate racial impact — that where the victim was white there were 11% death sentences, compared to only 1.3 percent death sentences when the victim was black. Similarly, only 8% of white defendants compared to 22% of black defendants received the death penalty when the victim was white. The Supreme *921Court has found similar gross disparities to be sufficient proof of discrimination to support a Fourteenth Amendment violation.2
The Baldus study undertook to determine if this racial sentencing disparity was caused by considerations of race or because of other factors or both. In order to find out, it was necessary to analyze and compare each of the potential death penalty cases and ascertain what relevant factors were available for consideration by the decision makers.3 There were many factors such as prior capital record, contemporaneous offense, motive, killing to avoid arrest or for hire, as well as race. The study showed that race had as much or more impact than any other single factor. See Exhibits DB 76-78, T-776-87. Stated another way, race influences the verdict just as much as any one of the aggravating circumstances listed in Georgia’s death penalty statute.4 Therefore, in the application of the statute in Georgia, race of the defendant and of the victim, when it is black/white, functions as if it were an aggravating circumstance in a discernible number of cases. See Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 2747, 77 L.Ed.2d 235 (1983) (race as an aggravating circumstance would be constitutionally impermissible).
Another part of the study compared the disparities in death penalty sentencing according to race of the defendant and race of the victim and reflected the differences in the sentencing depending upon the predicted chance of death, i.e., whether the type of case was or was not one where the death penalty would be given.

*922

Columns A and B reflect the step progression of least aggravated to most aggravated cases. Table 43, DB, Ex. 91.5 Columns C and D compare sentencing rates *923of black defendants to white defendants when the victim is white and reflect that in Steps 1 and 2 no death penalty was given in those 41 cases. In Step 8, 45 death penalties were given in 50 cases, only two blacks and three whites escaping the death penalty — this group obviously representing the most aggravated cases. By comparing Steps 3 through 7, one can see that in each group black defendants received death penalties disproportionately to white defendants by differences of .27, .19, .15, .22, and .25. This indicates that unless the murder is so vile as to almost certainly evoke the death penalty (Step 8), blacks are approximately 20% more likely to get the death penalty.
The right side of the chart reflects how unlikely it is that any defendant, but more particularly white defendants, will receive the death penalty when the victim is black.

Statistics as Proof

The jury selection cases have utilized different methods of statistical analysis in determining whether a disparity is sufficient to establish a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination.6 Early jury selection cases, such as Swain v. Alabama, used very simple equations which primarily analyzed the difference of minorities eligible for jury duty from the actual number of minorities who served on the jury to determine if a disparity amounted to a substantial underrepresentation of minority jurors.7 Because this simple method did not consider many variables in its equation, it was not as accurate as the complex statistical equations widely used today.8
The mathematical disparities that have been accepted by the Court as adequate to establish a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination range approximately from 14% to 40%.9 “Whether or not greater disparities constitute prima facie evidence of discrimination depends upon the facts of each case.”10
Statistical disparities in jury selection cases are not sufficiently comparable to provide a complete analogy. There are no guidelines in decided cases so in this case we have to rely on reason. We start with a sentencing procedure that has been approved by the Supreme Court.11 The object of this system, as well as any constitutionally permissible capital sentencing system, is to provide individualized treatment of those eligible for the death penalty to insure that non-relevant factors, i.e. factors that do not relate to this particular individual or the crime committed, play no part in deciding who does and who does not receive the death penalty.12 The facts dis*924closed by the Baldus study, some of which have been previously discussed, demonstrate that there is sufficient disparate treatment of blacks to establish a prima facie case of discrimination.
This discrimination, when coupled with the historical facts, demonstrate a prima facie Fourteenth Amendment violation of the Equal Protection Clause. It is that discrimination against which the Equal Protection Clause stands to protect. The majority, however, fails to give full reach to our Constitution. While one has to acknowledge the existence of prejudice in our society, one cannot and does not accept its application in certain contexts. This is nowhere more true than in the administration of criminal justice in capital cases.

The Fourteenth Amendment and Equal Protection

“A showing of intent has long been required in all types of equal protection cases charging racial discrimination.”13 The Court has required proof of intent before it will strictly scrutinize the actions of a legislature or any official entity.14 In this respect, the intent rule is a tool of self-restraint that serves the purpose of limiting judicial review and policymaking.15
The intent test is not a monolithic structure. As with all legal tests, its focus will vary with the legal cpntext in which it is applied. Because of the variety of situations in which discrimination can occur, the method of proving intent is the critical focus. The majority, by failing to recognize this, misconceives the meaning of intent in the context of equal protection jurisprudence.
Intent may be proven circumstantially by utilizing a variety of objective factors and can be inferred from the totality of the relevant facts.16 The factors most appropriate in this case are: (1) the presence of historical discrimination; and (2) the impact, as shown by the Baldus study, that the capital sentencing law has on a suspect class.17 The Supreme Court has indicated that:
Evidence of historical discrimination is relevant to drawing an inference of purposeful discrimination, particularly ... where the evidence shows that discriminatory practices were commonly utilized, that they were abandoned when enjoined by courts or made illegal by civil rights legislation, and that they were replaced by laws and practices which, though neutral on their face, serve to maintain the status quo.18
Evidence of disparate impact may demonstrate that an unconstitutional purpose *925may continue to be at work, especially where the discrimination is not explainable on non-racial grounds.19 Table 43, supra p. 4, the table and the accompanying evidence leave unexplained the 20% racial disparity where the defendant is black and the victim is white and the murders occurred under very similar circumstances.
Although the Court has rarely found the existence of intent where disproportionate impact is the only proof, it has, for example, relaxed the standard of proof in jury selection cases because of the “nature” of the task involved in the selection of jurors.20 Thus, to show an equal protection violation in the jury selection cases, a defendant must prove that “the procedure employed resulted in a substantial under-representation of his race or of the identifiable group to which he belongs.”21 The idea behind this method is simple. As the Court pointed out, “[i]f a disparity is sufficiently large, then it is unlikely that it is due solely to chance or accident, and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, one must conclude that racial or other class-related factors entered into the selection process.” 22 Once there is a showing of a substantial underrepresentation of the defendant’s group, a prima facie case of discriminatory intent or purpose is established and the state acquires, the burden of rebutting the case.23
In many respects the imposition of the death penalty is similar to the selection of jurors in that both processes are discretionary in nature, vulnerable to the bias of the decision maker, and susceptible to a rigorous statistical analysis.24
The Court has refrained from relaxing the standard of proof where the case does not involve the selection of jurors because of its policy of: (1) deferring to the reasonable acts of administrators and executives; and (2) preventing the questioning of tax, welfare, public service, regulatory, and licensing statutes where disparate impact is the only proof.25 However, utilizing the standards of proof in the jury selection cases to establish intent in this case will not contravene this policy because: (1) deference is not warranted where the penalty is grave and less severe alternatives are available; and (2) the court did not contemplate capital sentencing statutes when it established this policy. Thus, statistics alone could be utilized to prove intent in this case. But historical background is *926also relevant and supports the statistical conclusions.
“Discrimination on the basis of race, odious in all aspects, is especially pernicious in the administration of Justice.”26 It is the duty of the courts to see to it that throughout the procedure for bringing a person to justice, he shall enjoy “the protection which the Constitution guarantees.”27 In an imperfect society, one has to admit that it is impossible to guarantee that the administrators of justice, both judges and jurors, will successfully wear racial blinders in every case.28 However, the risk of prejudice must be minimized and where clearly present eradicated.
Discrimination against minorities in the criminal justice system is well documented.29 This is not to say that progress has not been made, but as the Supreme Court in 1979 acknowledged,
we also cannot deny that, 114 years after the close of the War between the States and nearly 100 years after Strauder [100 U.S. 303, 25 L.Ed. 664] racial and other forms of discrimination still remain a fact of life, in the administration of justice as in our society as a whole. Perhaps today that discrimination takes a form more subtle than before. But it is no less real or pernicious.30
If discrimination is especially pernicious in the administration of justice, it is nowhere more sinister and abhorrent than when it plays a part in the decision to impose society’s ultimate sanction, the penalty of death.31 It is also a tragic fact that this discrimination is very much a part of the country’s experience with the death penalty.32 Again and as the majority *927points out, the new post-Furman statutes have improved the situation but the Baldus study shows that race is still a very real factor in capital cases in Georgia. Some of this is conscious discrimination, some of it unconscious, but it is nonetheless real and it is important that we at least admit that discrimination is present.
Finally, the state of Georgia also has no compelling interest to justify a death penalty system that discriminates on the basis of race. Hypothetically, if a racial bias reflected itself randomly in 20% of the convictions, one would not abolish the criminal justice system. Ways of ridding the system of bias would be sought but absent a showing of bias in a given case, little else could be done. The societal imperative of maintaining a criminal justice system to apprehend, punish, and confine perpetrators of serious violations of the law would outweigh the mandate that race or other prejudice not infiltrate the legal process. In other words, we would have to accept that we are doing the best that can be done in a system that must be administered by people, with all their conscious and unconscious biases.
However, such reasoning cannot sensibly be invoked and bias cannot be tolerated when considering the death penalty, a punishment that is unique in its finality.33 The evidence in this case makes a prima facie case that the death penalty in Georgia is being applied disproportionately because of race. The percentage differentials are not de minimis. To allow the death penalty under such circumstances is to approve a racial preference in the most serious decision our criminal justice system must make. This is a result our Constitution cannot tolerate.
The majority in this case does not squarely face up to' this choice and its consequences. Racial prejudice/preference both conscious and unconscious is still a part of the capital decision making process in Georgia. To allow this system to stand is to concede that in a certain number of cases, the consideration of race will be a factor in the decision whether to impose the death penalty. The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not allow this result. The decision of the district court on the Baldus issue should be reversed and the state required to submit evidence, if any is available, to disprove the prima facie case made by the plaintiff.

 Although I concur with the majority opinion on the ineffective assistance of counsel and death oriented jury issues, I write separately to express my thoughts on the Baldus Study. I also join Chief Judge Godbold’s dissent and Judge Johnson's dissent.

. DB Exhibit 63.

. See discussion below at Page 9.

. An individualized method of sentencing makes it possible to differentiate each particular case “in an objective, evenhanded, and substantially rational way from the many Georgia murder cases in which the death penalty may not be imposed." Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 77 L.Ed.2d 235, 251.

. o.C.G.A. § 17-10-30.

. The eight sub-groups were derived from the group of cases where the death penalty was predictably most likely based upon an analysis of the relevant factors that resulted in the vast majority of defendants receiving the death penalty — 116 out of the total 128. This group was then sub-divided into the eight sub-groups in ascending order giving consideration to more serious aggravating factors and larger combinations of them as the steps progress. Tr. pages 877-83.

. In Villafane v. Mattson, 504 F.Supp. 78 (D.Conn.1980), the court noted that four forms of analysis have been used: (1) the absolute difference test used in Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965); (2) the ratio approach; (3) a test that moves away from the examination of percentages and focuses on the differences caused by underrepresen-tation in each jury; and (4) the statistical decision theory which was fully embraced in Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U.S. at 496 n. 17, 97 S.Ct. at 1281 n. 17. See also Finkelstein, The Application of Statistical Decision Theory to the Jury Discrimination Cases, 80 Harv.L.Rev. 338 (1966).

. See Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965); Villafane v. Manson, 504 F.Supp. at 83.

. See Finkelstein, The Application of Statistical Decision Theory to the Jury Discrimination Cases, 80 Harv.L.Rev. 338, 363 (1966) (“The Court did not reach these problems in Swain because of its inability to assess the significance of statistical data without mathematical tools.”).

. Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U.S. at 495-96, 97 S.Ct. at 1280-82 (disparity of 40%); Turner v. Fouche, 396 U.S. 346, 90 S.Ct. 532, 24 L.Ed.2d 567 (1970) (disparity of 23%); Whitus v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545, 87 S.Ct. 643, 17 L.Ed.2d 599 (1967) (disparity of 18%); Sims v. Georgia, 389 U.S. 404, 88 S.Ct. 523, 19 L.Ed.2d 634 (1967) (disparity of 19.7%); Jones v. Georgia, 389 U.S. 24, 88 S.Ct. 4, 19 L.Ed.2d 25 (1967) (disparity of 14.7%). These figures result from the computation used in Swain.

. United States ex rel Barksdale v. Blackburn, 639 F.2d 1115, 1122 (5th Cir.1981) (en banc).

. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976).

. The sentencing body’s decision must be focused on the "particularized nature of the crime and the particularized characteristics of the in*924dividual defendant.” 428 U.S. at 206, 96 S.Ct. at 2940. See also Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978) ("the need for treating each defendant in a capital case with degree of respect due the uniqueness of the individual is far more important than in non-capital cases.” 438 U.S. at 605, 98 S.Ct. at 2965); Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 does focus on a characteristic of the particular defendant, albeit an impermissible one. See infra, p. 3.

. Rogers v. Lodge, 458 U.S. 613, 102 S.Ct. 3272, 3276, 73 L.Ed.2d 1012 (1982).

. Id. at n. 5 ("Purposeful racial discrimination invokes the strictest scrutiny of adverse differential treatment. Absent such purpose, differential impact is subject only to the test of rationality.”); see also Sellers, The Impact of Intent on Equal Protection Jurisprudence, 84 Dick.L.Rev. 363, 377 (1979) ("the rule of intent profoundly affects the Supreme Court’s posture toward equal protection claims.’’).

. The intent rule "serves a countervailing concern of limiting judicial policy making. Washington v. Davis can be understood ... as a reflection of the Court’s own sense of institutional self-restraint — a limitation on the power of judicial review that avoids having the Court sit as a super legislature____” Note, Section 1981: Discriminatory Purpose or Disproportionate Impact, 80 Colum.L.R. 137, 160-61 (1980); see also Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 247-48, 84 S.Ct. 2040, 2051, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976).

. See Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 266, 97 S.Ct. 555, 564, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977).

. Id. See also Rogers v. Lodge, 102 S.Ct. at 3280.

. Rogers v. Lodge, 102 S.Ct. at 3280.

. In Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. at 242, 96 S.Ct. at 2049, the Court stated: "It is also not infrequently true that the discriminatory impact ... may for all practical purposes demonstrate unconstitutionality because in various circumstances the discrimination is very difficult to explain on nonracial grounds." See also Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeny, 442 U.S. 256, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2296 n. 24, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979) ( Washington and Arlington recognize that when a neutral law has a disparate impact upon a group that has historically been a victim of discrimination, an unconstitutional purpose may still be at work).

. Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. at 267 n. 13, 97 S.Ct. at 564 n. 13 ("Because of the nature of the jury-selection task, however, we have permitted a finding of constitutional violation even when the statistical pattern does not approach the extremes of Yick Wo [118 U.S. 356, 6 S.Ct. 1064, 30 L.Ed. 220] or Gomillion [364 U.S. 339, 81 S.Ct. 125, 5 L.Ed.2d 110]"); see also International Bro. of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 339, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1856, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977) (“We have repeatedly approved the use of statistical proof ... to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination in jury selection cases.”).

. Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U.S. 482, 494, 97 S.Ct. 1272, 1280, 51 L.Ed.2d 498 (1977).

. Id. at n. 13.

. Id. at 495, 97 S.Ct. at 1280.

. Joyner, Legal Theories for Attacking Racial Disparity in Sentencing, 18 Crim.L.Rep. 101, 110-11 (1982) (“In many respects sentencing is similar to the selections of jury panels as in Castaneda."). The majority opinion notes that the Baldus study ignores quantitative difference in cases: "looks, age, personality, education, profession, job, clothes, demeanor, and re-morse____” Majority opinion at 62. However, it' is these differences that often are used to mask, either intentionally or unintentionally, racial prejudice.

. See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. at 248, 96 S.Ct. at 2051; Note, Section 1981: Discriminatory Purpose or Disproportionate Impact, 80 Co-lum.L.R. 137, 146-47 (1980).

. Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U.S. 545, 556, 99 S.Ct. 2993, 61 L.Ed.2d 739 (1979).

. Rose, supra, 443 U.S. at 557, 99 S.Ct. at 3000.

. As Robespierre contended almost 200 years ago:
Even if you imagine the most perfect judicial system, even if you find the most upright and the most enlightened judges, you will still have to allow place for error or prejudice.
Robespierre (G. Rude ed. 1967).

. See, e.g., Johnson v. Virginia, 373 U.S. 61, 83 S.Ct. 1053, 10 L.Ed.2d 195 (1963) (invalidating segregated seating in courtrooms); Hamilton v. Alabama, 376 U.S. 650, 84 S.Ct. 982, 11 L.Ed.2d 979 (1964) (conviction reversed when black defendant was racially demeaned on cross-examination); Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 22 L.Ed.2d 676 (1969) (mass fingerprinting of young blacks in search of rape suspect overturned). See also Rose v. Mitchell, supra (racial discrimination in grand jury selection); Rogers v. Britton, 476 F.Supp. 1036 (E.D. Ark.1979). A very recent and poignant example of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system can be found in the case of Bailey v. Vining, unpublished order, civ. act. no. 76-199 (M.D.Ga.1978). In Bailey, the court declared the jury selection system in Putnam County, Georgia to be unconstitutional. The Office of the Solicitor sent the jury commissioners a memo demonstrating how they could underrep-resent blacks and women in traverse and grand juries but avoid a prima facie case of discrimination because the percentage disparity would still be within the parameters of Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit case law. See notes 7-8 supra and relevant text. The result was that a limited number of blacks were handpicked by the jury commissioners for service.

. Rose, supra, 443 U.S. at 558-59, 99 S.Ct. at 3001.

. See, e.g., Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972) (see especially the opinions of Douglas, J., concurring, id. at 249-252, 92 S.Ct. at 2731-2733; Stewart, J., concurring, id. at 309-310, 92 S.Ct. at 2762; Marshall, J., concurring, id. at 364-365, 92 S.Ct. at 2790; Burger, C.J., dissenting, id. at 389-390 n. 12, 92 S.Ct. at 2803-2804 n. 12; Powell, J., dissenting, id. at 449, 92 S.Ct. at 2833).

. This historical discrimination in the death penalty was pointed out by Justice Marshall in his concurring opinion in Furman, supra. 408 U.S. at 364-65, 92 S.Ct. at 2790, ‘‘[i]ndeed a look at the bare statistics regarding executions is enough to betray much of the discrimination.” Id. See also footnote 32 for other opinions in Furman discussing racial discrimination and the death penalty. For example, between 1930 and 1980, 3,863 persons were executed in the United States, 54% of those were blacks or members of minority groups. Of the 455 men executed for rape, 89.5% were black or minorities. Sarah T. Dike, Capital Punishment in the United States, p. 43 (1982). Of the 2,307 people executed in the South during that time period, 1659 were black. During the same fifty-year period in Georgia, of the 366 people executed, 298 were black. Fifty-eight blacks were executed for rape as opposed to only three whites. Six blacks were executed for armed robbery while no whites were. Hugh A. Bedau, ed., The Death Penalty in America (3rd ed. 1982).

. See, e.g., Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 305, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976).