Keith Tharpe was convicted in 1991 of killing his sister-in-law and kidnapping and raping his estranged wife on Setp. 25, 1990. The wife left him and moved in with her parents. He intercepted her and her sister, Jacqueline Freeman, while they were on their way to work. He killed her sister, dragged her in a ditch and raped her and drove her to Macon to force her to withdraw money from her credit union account.
With only 100 days to prepare the case, Tharpe’s defense team lost the trial. The jury unanimously sentenced him to death.
Eight years later, claims of a racially bias juror surfaced. The man in question, Barney Gattie, admitted he used racial epithets and racially biased language when describing Tharpe. Now-deceased, Gattie’s signed an affidavit for Tharpe’s lawyers stating that. Two days later, he signed another affidavit for the state saying that he voted for Tharpe to receive the death penalty because he was a cold, calculated murderer, not because he was black.
Tharpe’s lawyers filed new motions after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that courts can examine what happened in a jury room when there are showings that racial prejudice played a role in the deliberations.
U.S. District judge rejected the claims because 10 other jurors said there was no racial animus in their deliberations.
Tharpe’s lawyers are now asking the 11th Circuit to consider the juror misconduct claim.
What do you think? Should the death penalty be thrown out because at least one member of the jury appearted to be racially biased? Or should the claims of the other 10 jurors prove that their was no bias in the deliberations?
Send your response to communitynews@ajc.com. Replies may be edited for length and/or clarity and may be published in print and/or online.
LAST WEEK: IS NEW RULING WHERE KIDS CAN CLAIM SELF-DEFENSE IN FIGHTS JUST?
The Henry County schools expelled a Locust Grove High School student under its zero-tolerance policy toward fighting. The student contested the decision in court, saying she was defending herself against an attacker. This summer, the Georgia Supreme Court sided with the student, saying the district should have applied the state statute that gives a person the right to argue self-defense as justification. Was it appropriate to apply a law, intended for adults, to schoolchildren?
Here’s what some readers had to say:
I can only say it is about time victims have the right to defend themselves. My daughter has been a Henry County student for several years and fully understood school rules did not allow her to defend or protect herself. In kindergarten, a student would steal her lunch and threaten to "get his gang and kill her." While my daughter was choked, the principal would only attribute it to the offender playing with her. In later years, a student would threaten my daughter; eventually he threw her down a hill injuring her ankle for several weeks. Another time, a student told my daughter "I'm going to break your arm," the next day, he broke her arm. The Henry County Board of Education's response to all of this was to state that due to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act they could not discuss what actions they had taken toward the offenders. I never saw one of these offenders disappear from school, as you would expect during a punishment period. Essentially, Henry County used the zero tolerance policy to avoid having to perform their responsibility of providing a safe environment for every student. With it now removed, students can defend themselves. Perhaps Henry County will now have to start working to provide a safe environment. – Ken Brown
Excellent ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court on the case granting kids the right to argue self defense in a school fight. Most rights extended to adults are already extend to kids, so why not this one? If a school official lacks the wisdom and maturity to sort out what happened and ensure each kid is granted due process, then he or she is in the wrong profession. – Mike Brooks
If kids were allowed to settle their own issues, they'd grow up sooner. Back in my day, you handled your business and sometimes bullies found out the hard way that little guys can be tough, too. At the end of the day, you took your lumps and squashed the beef. Some of my best friends today started out as adversaries. Duking it out can be cathartic.— JoJo Brown
DAVID IBATA FOR THE AJC
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