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Murder case appeal deemed significant in legal circles
Published Friday, March 6, 2009
A 20-year-old murder case going back for retrial in Dallas County has significant implications in the legal community.
More than 20 years ago, an all-white jury convicted Earl Jerome McGahee, a black man, for killing his ex-wife Connie Brown, and a nursing student, Cassandra Lee.
But Wednesday a three-judge panel out of the 11th District U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and ordered McGahee tried again.
The three jurists based their decision in this appeal on what they called an “astonishing pattern” of discrimination that kept black people off McGahee’s jury and violated his 14th Amendment rights to equal protection under the law.
University of Alabama School of Law Professor Montre¢ D. Carodine specializes in race and law and labeled the ruling by the court as significant.
“It is remarkable that the 11th district granted a habeas corpus petition,” she said. “It doesn’t happen that often.”
Inmates convicted of felonies generally file habeas corpus petitions to gain an appearance before a judge to argue a wrongful conviction or sentence.
Before becoming a professor, Carodine worked as a law clerk for the 5th District Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans. She saw prisoners file thousands of habeas petitions daily, most of which were not granted by the court.
But in terms of McGahee’s case, the court apparently found reason to believe prosecutors acted on a racial basis, she said.
“The language in the appeal is remarkable too,” Carodine said. “It says it is ‘astonishing’ that there would be no African-American jurors on this case considering the large percentage of African-Americans in the area.”
McGahee’s appeal was based on a case Batson v. Kentucky. Carodine said the Batson ruling was a landmark case from April 30, 1986, which came right before McGahee’s Sept. 12, 1986 conviction. This timeline allows the ruling to stand.
“Batson ruled prosecution cannot strike jurors solely based on race and that they must give a race-neutral reason why they want to remove the juror,” she said. “According to the court records, all African-American potential jurors were removed for very general reasons.”
During jury selection for McGahee, 66 possible jurors remained and of those 24 were black. Throughout the jury selection process all 24 were removed from the jury.
Following the removal of the 24 black jurors, defense attorney Bruce Boynton made the Batson challenge. The prosecutor said he would explain in detail at a later time why each juror was dismissed. Court records that accompanied the appeal show Boynton agreed on good faith, but no mention was made of the explanations given by the prosecutor.
In a telephone interview Friday, Boynton said, “I remember there being some reasons being given in court. I specifically remember Rev. [Willis] Wright, the president of Concordia College, being dismissed for legitimate reasons.”
Boynton said the district attorney at that time was Roy Johnson, but two other assisted on the case, one of them was Ed Green, who later became district attorney.
Boynton said he no longer represents McGahee.
McGahee filed multiple times for appeal using the Batson ruling. Each time the appeal was denied until Wednesday.
The present day retrial could prove to be slow going in the beginning.
District Attorney Michael Jackson said he would have to examine the evidence and become familiar with the case before the retrial.
“It might be a little difficult because witnesses might have died or moved,” he said. “We will just have to put it back together to seek justice for the family.”
Bryan Stevenson of the Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative represented McGahee in the appeal.
"The evidence of racial bias during jury selection in this case is pretty remarkable and is a terrible reflection on criminal justice in Alabama," Stevenson said via e-mail Wednesday top The Associated Press. "An all-white jury in a majority black county was accomplished after the prosecutor excluded every black person qualified for jury selection. The derogatory explanations offered by the prosecutor to justify the exclusion of African-Americans presented a serious issue, especially in a death penalty case."
Alabama's Court of Criminal Appeals overturned McGahee's death sentence based on improper introduction of victim impact testimony during the sentencing phase of his trial. But the court denied McGahee's claims under Batson vs. Kentucky, a 1986 Supreme Court decision that excluding jurors based on race violates the equal protection guarantees of the 14th Amendment.
After a second sentencing hearing, a new jury returned a 10-2 verdict for life imprisonment with no parole. The trial judge rejected the jury verdict and sentenced McGahee to death, and the sentence was upheld on direct appeal.
Following other unsuccessful bids, McGahee filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Southern District of Alabama in 2005, including his Batson claim. The district court denied the petition, a decision that was reversed by the 11th Circuit ruling.
AP contributed to this story.
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Comments
Posted by nowhining (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I hope those students that were there that day, are all still alive. I remember a former student from,I believe, Alabaster who was pistol whipped, and she testified at the last trial. There were enough witnesses that day, that many of them remember it vividly, I know where I was that day, and did not know any of the victims.
Posted by why1 (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 3:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
See this is where this great news paper of ours doesn't do their homework. When this case went to trial back in 1986......there WAS 1 black on the jury....How can STJ reporter, Katie Nichols, say "an all white jury convicted Earl Jerome McGahee"? She needs to do her homework. The only remorse the he showed that whole week was he wanted his tennis shoes back.....How do I know and remember all this...hum.....I was on the jury.
Posted by leesha (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 3:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WHY 1
The official court record that accompanied the appeal said no blacks were included on the jury. That's where Katie Nichols received her information. We depended on it because it is the official court record. We also talked to the defense attorney of record.
Thank you for your comment,
Leesha Faulkner
Editor
Posted by why1 (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 3:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
On the jury back in 1986.....like I said.....there was 1 black on that jury....I know who who man is. I should know because we were all locked up in a hotel for a week...
Posted by Nina (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 5:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Did they ask what race these folks were before they were allowed to serve on this jury?
If not, how do You know what race a person is?
By looking at them?
I might LOOK white but BE mulatto.
I might BE White, but THINK Black, if that's possible :)
How long, oh Lord, before this insanity ends?
Posted by katie (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 7:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why1
http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/op...
specifically bottom of page 7
Posted by sharon (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 7:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Connie was a friend of mine, a good friend. The complete horror of what he did that day is still hard to understand. Connie came from a good family and she was one of those people who spread joy simply by walking into a room and smiling. Connie did not deserve to have her life ended this way but to be honest no one does. You would think that these people would have more things to do with government money during a recession than to bring this back up. I don't care if the jury forman wore a KKK robe on the day of sentencing, it DOES NOT change the fact that he killed two people, pistol whipped another, traumatized a group of students, left 2 children without parents and tore apart two familys. If our judicial system had any backbone at all he would be dead by now. Insead he has his own web page on a prison system web site, claiming that he has found God, like God was ever lost. I respect the work Bryan Stevenson has done but if his work results in this man ever walking out of prison Mr. Stevenson will have committed a grave error. Also, if you consider the evidence againat this man the jury could have been purple and the results would have been the same.
Posted by why1 (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 8:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sharon...Amen to what you said...Right is right and wrong is wrong!! What he did that day was WRONG...and like you said..it didn't matter if the jury was purple the results would of been the same with the evidence against him. I had to sit there that week back in 1986 and see all the evidence and hear all that evidence. I can't understand them spending all that money to try this again when there WAS a black on that jury. I remember being locked up with him for a week at a local hotel...I can't see how they say there wasn't any black on the jury....I read that web site from katie and it doesn't make sence as to what went on that week back in 1986...I don't care what it says. The man need to stay where he is for doing what he did!
Posted by bamafan (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 8:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well said Sharon.
It is not fair that any of the family members of the victims, will have to re-live all of this again, just because he thinks he was done unfairly, he should have received the death penalty, and should have already met his maker and seen his ultimate judgement day!!!
God Bless you for holding on to such cherished memories of your friend, you will walk hand in hand again one day.
Posted by mccrary36703 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 7:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Now this is wonderful, no race riot. Sharon my prayers for you and your friend.I don't know what happen back then because I wasn't there, but I am glad everyone is on one accord. This is one case where race does not matter. He did the crime please let him do the time until his death. May God have mercy on him.
Posted by weenz (anonymous) on March 9, 2009 at 5:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
He confessed in the Detective car after his rights were read. His statement was he did it because she took his threads and wheels away from him, referring to the child support order given him after he was kicked out of the military for beating her and kicking her down the stairs in Lousiana. I was there.
Posted by sharon (anonymous) on March 10, 2009 at 10:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
He also confesses on this web page
http://ccadp.org/earlmcgahee.htm
Posted by EMoorer (anonymous) on March 11, 2009 at 3:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Connie was my first cousin, right now I am in TEARS because of the hurt and pain this is causing my family. My aunt is a beautiful person with a beautiful heart and I hate to see her going through the tragedy of losing her daughter all over again. It hurts me, it hurts my entire family. Connie boys are grown now with their own wives and kids.They are wonderful men. They had their mother ripped apart from them when they were young and they shouldn't have to relive it. Earl McGahee caused my family hurt then,and the law is letting him do it now. White jury or not, this doesn't change the fact that he brutally took the life of beautiful people. The green, purple ,blue and yellow jury will see that. He got what he deserved the first time DEATH ROW!!! To anyone who reads this and know the families that were hurt by this man, PLEASE PRAY FOR US ALL.
Posted by I_saw_what_you_did_in_Selma (anonymous) on April 26, 2009 at 9 a.m. (Suggest removal)
why1 - my guess is that the black man was an alternate juror. If so, then it would still be possible that McCahee was technically convincted by an all-white jury if the alternate was not needed. Even though the alternate would have been at all court proceedings and would have been "locked up in a hotel" with everybody else, he would not have had any vote unless they needed an alternate.
I agree with the other posts, though - it doesn't matter whether they were all white or all black or all green. He did it. He confessed. And, there were countless witnesses.
Posted by jdmonkeyrn (anonymous) on September 23, 2009 at 1:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't know what made me look this up on the computer today: I was there in 1985, but had grad. as ADN in 1981. I watched, crouched down, outside the Nursing Bldg. until he was removed in hand-cuffs. I still grieve for those precious girls.
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