By the AP
Washington (AP) — The Supreme Court (click here) is giving a Georgia death row inmate whose execution was called off last year another chance to raise claims of racial bias on his jury.
The justices voted 6-3 Monday to order the federal appeals court in Atlanta to take up the case of inmate Keith Leroy Tharpe. A juror used a racial slur to describe Tharpe years after Tharpe was convicted of killing Jacquelin Freeman, his sister-in-law, 27 years ago.
Justice Clarence Thomas called the court’s unsigned opinion “ceremonial handwringing” in a dissent that predicted Tharpe ultimately would lose his appeal. Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch joined Thomas.
The appeal stems from interviews Tharpe’s legal team conducted in 1998 with Barney Gattie, a white juror. Gattie freely used racial slurs and said his study of the Bible had led him to question “if black people even have souls,” according to court filings. Gattie signed an affidavit, though he later testified that he voted to sentence Tharpe to death because of the evidence against him....
Where are the strict constructionist now? It seems as though Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch prefer prejudicing the lower courts. Maybe they miss their old jobs?
September 28, 2017
By the AP
Atlanta -- Shortly before he thought he would be put to death, (click here) a Georgia death row inmate recorded an apology to the family of the woman he killed.
Where are the strict constructionist now? It seems as though Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch prefer prejudicing the lower courts. Maybe they miss their old jobs?
September 28, 2017
By the AP
Atlanta -- Shortly before he thought he would be put to death, (click here) a Georgia death row inmate recorded an apology to the family of the woman he killed.
Keith Leroy Tharpe was scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m. Tuesday. But the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, granting a temporary stay to give the justices time to consider whether to take up an appeal in which his lawyers argued his death sentence was tainted by a juror's racial bias.
Tharpe, 59, was convicted of murder and kidnapping in the September 1990 slaying of his sister-in-law, Jacquelyn Freeman.
The Georgia Department of Corrections allows condemned inmates to record a final statement in a holding cell at about 5 p.m. on the day they are set to be executed. They are then given another opportunity to make a statement, which is also recorded, in the execution chamber minutes before the lethal drug begins to flow.
The corrections department on Thursday released a transcript of Tharpe's holding cell statement in response to an open records request from The Associated Press.
Tharpe starts his brief statement by apologizing to Freeman's family.
"You know because, uh, you know, me taking the life of her was very wrong and uh, I sincerely wish y'all would be able to be forgiving one day," the transcript reads. "You know and uh, like I say, I'ma say it again, I'm very sorry. And, uh, and, God bless y'all. That's all I can say."...
