A federal judge has rejected the appeal of a Cobb County killer who contends he received an unfair trial because jurors gave bawdy chocolate “gifts” to the trial judge and a bailiff.
The most recent review of Marcus Wellons’ 1993 trial was the result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling early last year that halted Wellons’ execution in light of the fact one juror sent a penis-shaped chocolate to Cobb judge Mary Staley and another sent breast-shaped chocolate to bailiff Loretta Perry.
On Friday, Senior U.S. District Judge Willis Hunt said those attempts at humor “fell flat in spectacular fashion [and] may reflect, at worst, poor judgment” by a few jurors.
“But any jury representing a cross section of our society will possibly -- if not likely -- include jurors whose judgment is poor,” Hunt said. “Such are the vagaries of our judicial system, and nowhere does the Constitution guarantee a jury made up entirely of smart people.”
Hunt also found that evidence obtained since the high court’s ruling in January 2010 showed that “the actions of the jury were not as shocking as they may appear at first glance.” For example, he said, no juror bought the chocolate intending to give it to Staley.
“Rather, it was delivered to a juror as a joke, and the juror passed it on to the judge,” Hunt said. There is no evidence to show that the “gift” was at all related to the trial or the jury’s deliberations, he noted.
Wellons sits on death row for abducting, raping and killing his 15-year-old neighbor, India Roberts, a Campbell High School sophomore in 1989.
Any argument that the gifts showed racial bias against Wellons, who is African-American, were substantially weakened upon disclosures the candy was white chocolate, Hunt added.
Wellons’ jurors approached their duty with “the solemn and respectful attitude expected of them,” and Wellons failed to show that the inappropriate gifts denied him a fair trial, the judge said.
Mary Jo Hooper, the juror who gave the anatomical candy to Staley, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year that during the trial she called a friend who ran a candy shop and ordered chocolate-shaped turtles to share with jurors and court personnel.
The friend included the erotic gift as a joke because she knew the jury was sequestered and Hooper was away from her husband. When the bailiff checked the package and saw the chocolate penis inside, she reported it to Staley and told Hooper the judge wanted to see it, Hooper said. After the trial ended, Hooper said, she discreetly gave the “gift” to Staley.
Hunt said the breast-shaped chocolate were sent by another juror to the bailiff after the trial and were apparently the result of a lighthearted conversation some jurors had over dinner. No juror claimed responsibility for giving that gift to the bailiff, Hunt said.
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