Capital juror used slur to describe defendant in post-conviction affidavit, cert petition says
A U.S. Supreme Court cert petition is citing a former juror’s N-word assertion in an affidavit obtained eight years after the juror voted to sentence a black Georgia defendant to death.
In the affidavit, the 79-year-old former juror says: “I don’t know if he ever killed anybody, but that n—– got just what should have happened. Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that’s what that n—- deserved.”
The affidavit is being cited in the cert petition (PDF) filed on behalf of Kenneth Fults, a black defendant sentenced to death in 1997 after pleading guilty during jury selection to the murder of a white woman, the Associated Press and the BBC report. The juror had said during voir dire that he had no prejudice for or against Fults. An investigator for Fults obtained the affidavit in 2005.
At issue is whether federal courts may consider the affidavit if it wasn’t submitted on direct appeal. Lawyers for Fults contend the juror bias claim wasn’t defaulted because nothing in the record indicated that the juror was biased. The cert petition also claims a federal appeals court used the wrong standard for procedural default when it said Fults had failed to establish that his claim could not have been discovered at the time of trial or appeal.
Hat tip to the Marshall Project.
Headline changed on Sept. 11.
