Court Opinion

ID: 9473241
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:23:55.038464+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:24.475888
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part and concurring in part:
I concur in parts I, II A and II B of the opinion of the Court. I also agree that several of the statistical studies offered by Ross to prove that Georgia has applied its death penalty in an unconstitutionally discriminatory manner were not sufficient to warrant an evidentiary hearing in the district court. I must dissent, however, from the majority’s holding that the study conducted by Dr. David Baldus did not demonstrate a' “reasonable possibility that the evidence might compel an inference of purposeful discrimination” and therefore did not warrant an evidentiary hearing. The petitioner did not have to prove purposeful discrimination in order to support his claim, and even if he were required to do so, he still would have almost certainly succeeded. In my view, the evidence proffered by Ross would establish grounds for relief under the Eighth Amendment because it would prove that Georgia has applied its death penalty statute in an arbitrary and capricious manner by allowing race to determine in part who will receive the death penalty.
A petitioner can prove that a state has operated its death penalty system arbitrarily and capriciously without proving that state agents intended to discriminate against the petitioner or against any other defendant in a capital case. A death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious if it produces significantly inconsistent results. Godfrey v. Georgia, 446 U.S. 420, 433, 100 S.Ct. 1759, 1767, 64 L.Ed.2d 398 (1980) (death penalty scheme must provide meaningful way of distinguishing between those who receive death sentence and those who do not). As a result, many of the constitutional limitations on the death penalty focus not on the intent of juries, prosecutors and other state agents, but on the consistency of the results they produce. See Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37, 104 S.Ct. 871, 79 L.Ed.2d 29 (1984) (comparative proportionality review not required if system adequately ensures consistent and rational results); Westbrook v. Zant, 704 F.2d 1487, 1504 (11th Cir.1983).
The Court’s holding today on the Enmund issue is a classic example of such objective controls on the pattern of outcomes produced by a death penalty system. Regardless of a jury’s intent regarding the proportionality of its recommended sentence, the sentence will be upheld if an appellate court can determine that the defendant’s crime is consistent with other capital crimes. While some procedural due process requirements designed to ensure the accuracy of the proceedings focus on the actual deliberations of different state actors, see Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982); Spivey v. Zant, 661 F.2d 464 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981), cert. denied, 458 U.S. 1111, 102 S.Ct. 3495, 73 L.Ed.2d 1374 (1982), the violation of a petitioner’s substantive rights in the death penalty context may be proven without reference to intent.
*1495Even if proof of purposeful discrimination were the appropriate standard, the Baldus Study proffered by Ross would suffice to support his constitutional claim. In some instances, circumstantial or statistical evidence of racially disproportionate impact may be so strong that it compels an inference of purposeful racial discrimination. Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U.S. 482, 97 S.Ct. 1272, 51 L.Ed.2d 498 (1977); Smith v. Balkcom, 671 F.2d 858, 859 (5th Cir. Unit B), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 882, 103 S.Ct. 181, 74 L.Ed.2d 148 (1982). The Baldus Study begins with evidence of a very large disproportionate impact by showing that the death penalty falls on killers of white victims eleven times more often than on killers of black victims. Then, moving beyond the usual confines of statistical evidence, the study analyzes that disproportionate impact and shows it to be strong, virtually irrefutable evidence of purposeful discrimination. The multivariate regression analysis demonstrates that the average killer of a white victim has a significantly greater risk of receiving the death penalty than other killers and that the greater risk exists solely because of the race of the victim. Ross has therefore produced sufficiently strong evidence of a disproportionate impact sufficiently large to compel an inference of purposeful discrimination.
While this Court has already decided, wrongly in my view, the legal insufficiency of the Baldus Study, the issue remains alive because it is still possible that the Supreme Court will take action in McCles-key v. Kemp, supra. The shortcomings of this Court’s decision in McCleskey, together with the possibility that it will not stand as binding precedent on this issue, lead me to conclude that the evidence proffered by Ross demonstrates a reasonable possibility of supporting a successful claim for habeas corpus relief. I would reverse the judgment of the district court and order it to hold an evidentiary hearing.