Stevens Calls Ga. Capital Case ‘Troubling,’ But Agrees with Cert Denial
U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called a Georgia capital case “particularly troubling” in a statement issued today, but said he agreed with the decision to deny certiorari.
Stevens wrote in the case of death-row inmate Artemus “Rick” Walker, convicted of stabbing to death a bank vice president after being turned down for a loan, according to an account of the case in the Augusta Chronicle.
Stevens noted prior studies showing that killers of whites are more likely to be put to death than killers of blacks. “It is against that backdrop that I find this case, which involves a black defendant and a white victim, particularly troubling,” he wrote in his statement (PDF posted by SCOTUSblog).
He said the Georgia Supreme Court “carried out an utterly perfunctory review” of the death sentence in a single paragraph that considered whether the penalty was proportionate to sentences for similar offenses. The court referenced 21 death penalty cases with similar facts but didn’t mention “numerous” similar cases where a life sentence was imposed, Stevens wrote.
Stevens said it appears to be the Georgia court’s practice to focus only on death cases in proportionality reviews and questioned the constitutionality of the process.
Yet Stevens said he supported the cert denial because the defendant did not raise and litigate proportionality claims in state court.
SCOTUSblog posted news of Stevens’ statement. The blog said Justice Clarence Thomas also wrote a statement (PDF posted by SCOTUSblog) saying the Georgia Supreme Court has followed capital precedent “faithfully and without any error.” His opinion emphasized that the defendant had said he wanted to “rob and kill a rich white man” and said the victim had been “brutally murdered.”
The case is Walker v. Georgia.
Stevens wrote earlier this year in Baze v. Rees that he considers the death penalty to be “pointless,” but he will respect capital punishment precedents. He was profiled today in the Chicago Tribune.
Updated at 1 p.m. to add reference to Tribune coverage.
