The Georgia Supreme Court stopped jury selection in a high-profile death penalty case of an admitted cop killer Monday and then reversed itself a few hours later.
In all, the high state court released three decisions Monday on a motion for an emergency stay that was filed by the prosecutor in the case. Clarke County District Attorney Ken Mauldin argued the judge had made errors that would most likely require the case against Jamie Hood to be retried if he is convicted and sentenced to death for killing Athens-Clarke County police officer Elmer “Buddy” Christian. The court did not give a reason for its rulings.
“It’s an extraordinary thing for the (prosecution) to go to the Georgia Supreme Court to stop a capital trial during jury selection,” said Stephen Bright, who teaches law at Yale University and is president of the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights.
“Based on the serious errors identified by both sides, the trial of this case may not be a very good use of the taxpayers’ money,” Bright said.
Hood, who is acting as his own attorney, successfully asked that a jury be chosen from outside Clarke County, where the March 2011 crime has received significant media coverage. The district attorney agreed that jurors should not come from Clarke County because of pre-trial publicity, but he opposed Judge Patrick Haggard’s decision to use jurors from Elbert County, 36 miles from Athens; he asked Haggard at least four times to reconsider his decision and to choose another county for jurors because Elbert County is in the Athens media market.
Mauldin wrote that if jury selection continued in Elbert County, “a manifest injustice and irreparable harm will inure to the state of Georgia, defendant Hood .. and the victims and their families.”
In the filing, Mauldin wrote that Haggard erred when he:
•Allowed prospective jurors to remain in the pool even though they said Hood is guilty and should die for his crimes. One prospective juror who was kept said on Friday, “He said he’s guilty, he’s guilty,” Mauldin wrote.
•Issued a gag order prohibiting anyone from talking about jury selection. Haggard had papers served on the Athens Banner-Herald prohibiting it from reporting on jury selection. “The judge has the basic power to gag… the lawyers and police officer but a (U.S.) Supreme Court decision from way back (says) the judge cannot gag anybody else and a judge certainly can’t tell a reporter not to report a story.”
•Did not allow some jurors to be asked questions mandated in state law, such as whether they can consider all punishments: death, life without parole and life with parole.
“If you’re making mistakes like these… it’s clear that this case was going to have to be tried again” if Hood were to be convicted and sentenced to death,” Bright said.
Hood has pleaded not guilty to murder and dozens of other felonies even though he has admitted several times in court that he killed Christian.
Christian and Officer Tony Howard were both shot after Hood was pulled over for allegedly kidnapping Jadon Brooks. Brooks said Hood bound his hands and feet and put him in the trunk of his car because he wouldn’t tell Hood where to find a certain drug dealer.
Police searched for Hood for four days. Hood called the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to tell law enforcement where they could find him. He decided to release his hostages only after officers agreed his surrender could be covered live on television. Hood also is charged with murdering Kenneth Omari Wray when he refused to tell Hood where to find the same drug dealer he was trying to locate when he allegedly kidnapped Brooks.
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