Defendants' Motion for Extension of Time in Which to File Objections

Public Court Documents
August 7, 1972

Defendants' Motion for Extension of Time in Which to File Objections preview

5 pages

Cite this item

  • Case Files, McCleskey Background Materials. Clemency Request - Attorneys Working Files Vol. 4 of 5, 1991. 656a7684-63a7-ef11-8a69-6045bdd6d628. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/4a7ecd07-ed5d-4b0a-be73-0feb7969ac96/clemency-request-attorneys-working-files-vol-4-of-5. Accessed August 19, 2025.

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    P9/16-1991 17:25 FROM GEORGIA RESOURCE CENTER TO BOGER F.@1.-@1 

    

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9-85-1991 17:85 FROM GEORGIA RESOURCE CENTER TO BOGER 

FILED IN CLERK'S OFFICE 
USDC - Atlanta 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIAGEP 31891 

ATLANTA DIVISION 
LUTHER D, THOMAS, Cif 

WARREN MC CLESKEY, : gh #0 Deputy Cicrs 

Petitioner, t 

VE. : CIVIL ACTION NO. 
- 1:87=CV=1517«J0OF 

WALTER ZANT, Superintendent, : 
Georgia Diagnostic and 3 
Classification Cantar, : 

Respondent. : 

ORDER 

On July 9, 1987 the court granted petitionar’'s motion for 

an indefinite stay of execution =0 that the merits of the petition 

for writ Of habeas corpus could be satisfactorily considered. On 

ember 23, 1987 the court granted in part and denied in par? 

petition. On March 9, 1988 the court ordered a stay of execution 

pending an appeal to the Eleventh Circuit. On November 22, 1989 

the Eleventh Circuit reversed that portion of thig court's order 

granting relief to petitioner. Pry July 12, 1991, following = 

decigion by the United States Supreme Court affirming the court of 

appeals, thes mandate of the Eleventh Circuit was issued. Accord- 

ngly, that mandate is made the judgment of this court and the 

petition for writ of habeas corpus is DENIED. The stay of 

axecution ie LIFTED, 
Ph 

SO ORDERED this = day of A , 1981. 
Ld 

” 

9). (Manor — py 

+ OWEN FORRESTER 
TED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 

  

  

TOTAL P.81 

  

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423 Holloway Avenue 
Albany, Georgia 31701 

 



  

THE FIRST FAMILY 
  

Mrs. Coretta Scott King, President 
M.L.K., Jr. Center for Nonviolent 

Social Change 
449 Auburn Avenue, N.E. 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303 
Telephone: (404) 524 - 1956 

 



  

Dr. Billy C. Black, President 
Albany State College 
504 College Drive 
Albany, Georgia 31705 

Dr. Oscar L. Prater, President 
Ft. Valley State College 
1005 State College Drive 
Ft. Valley, Georgia 31030 

Dr. Annette Brock, Acting President 
Savannah State College 
Post Office Box 20449 
Savannah, Georgia 31404 

Dr. Julius Scott, President 
Paine College 
1235 15th Street 
Augusta, Georgia 30910 

Dr. Johnnetta Cole, President 
Spelman College 
350 Spelman Lane, SW 
Atlanta, Georgia 30314 

Dr. Thomas Cole, President 
Clark Atlanta University 
James P. Brawley Dr. & Fair Street 
Atlanta, Georgia 30314 

Dr. James H. Costen, President 
Interdenominational Theological Center 
671 Beckwith Street, SW 
Atlanta, Georgia 30314 

Dr. Calvert H. Smith, President 
Morris Brown College 
643 MLK, Jr. Drive, SW 
Atlanta, Georgia 30314 

Dr. Leroy Keith, President 
Morehouse College 
830 Westview Drive, SW 
Atlanta, Georgia 30314 

Dr. James Goodman, President 
Morehouse School of Medicine 
720 Westview Drive, SW 
Atlanta, Georgia 30314 

Dr. E. A. Thompson, President 
Atlanta Metropolitan College 
1630 Stewart Avenue, SW 
Atlanta, Georgia 30310 

 



  

“ CATHOLIC INFORMATION 

Bishop James Lyke 
Atlanta Archdiocese 
680 West Peachtree Street 
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 
Phone: (404) 888-7801 

Bishop Raymond Lessard 
Savannah Diocese 
601 E. Liberty Street 
Savannah, Georgia 31401-5196 
Phone: (912) 238-2320 

Sacred Heart Catholic Church 
Father Marvin LeFois 
Father Christian LeFois 
251 South David Drive 
Mail to: Post Office Box 5052 
Warner Robins, Georgia 31099 
Phone: (912) 923-0124 

Holy Spirit Catholic Church 
Father Bob Cushing 
4937 Bloomfield Road 
Macon, Georgia 31206 
Phone: (912) 788-2837 (Directory) 

"788-6386 (0ffice) 

St. Patrick Catholic Church 
Father Michael O'Keefe 
Post Office Box 612 
Perry, Georgia 31069 
Phone: (912) 987-4213 

Rev. Dr. Cameron Alexander, President 
Georgia Baptist Convention 
Antioch Baptist Church 
540 Kennedy Street, N.W. 
Atlanta, Georgia 30318 
Phone: (404) 688 - 5679 

Rev. Dr. Benjamin Hooks, Executive Director 
National Association for the Advancement 

of Colored People 
4805 Mt. Hope Drive 
Baltimore, MD 21215 
Phone: (301) 358-8900 

 



  

Rev. Dr. T. J. Jemison, President 
National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc. 

356 East Boulevard 
Baton Rouge, LA 70802 
Phone: (504) 383-5401 

Rev. Dr. Alfred Norris, Dean 
Gammon Theological Seminary 
United Methodist 
653 Beckwith Street, S.W. 
Atlanta, Georgia 30314 
Phone: (404) 527-7770 

Rev. Dr. John Hurst Adams, Bishop 
6th Episcopal District 
African Methodist Episcopal Church 
208 Auburn Avenue, N.E. 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303 
Phone: (404) 524-8279 

Rev. Dr. Joseph C. Coles, Bishop 
6th Episcopal District 
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church 

2001 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, S.W. 

Suite 423 

Atlanta, Georgia 30310 
Phone: (404) 752-7800 -- Office 

(404) 794-0096 -- Home 

Rev. Dr. Andrew "Andy" Young 

Law Engineering 
1000 Abernathy Road 
Suite 1800 
Atlanta, Georgia 30328 
Phone: (404) 396-8000 

Mr. Ronald Logan, President 
Georgia's Black Funeral 

Home Association 
c/o Tyler Funeral Home 
511 West Trinity Place 
Decatur, Georgia 30030 
Phone: (404) 378-1207 

  

 



  
 
   

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Warren McCleskey Case -- May, 1991 

A. General Background 

Warren McCleskey is a 44-year-old black man who was sentenced to death 
for his part in a May 13, 1978, armed robbery of the Dixie Furniture Store in 
Atlanta, Georgia. During the robbery, a white Atlanta officer, Frank Schlatt, 
entered the furniture store and was killed by a pistol shot fired by one of 
the four robbers. 

From the moment of his arrest, McCleskey admitted taking part in the 
robbery, but he has consistently denied that he was the triggerman who shot 
Officer Schlatt. There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, and the murder 
veapon itself was never found. The State's case against McCleskey turned 
largely on the testimony of two persons: (i) Ben Wright, a co-defendant and 
the leader of the four robbers, who gratuitously told the jury that McCleskey 
(and not himself) had done the shooting; and (ii) Qffie Evans, a jailhouse 
informant, who said McCleskey admitted the shooting while in the Fulton County 
Jail awaiting trial. Co-defendant Wright was the other most likely shooting 
suspect, but he quickly agreed to testify against McCleskey in exchange for a 
life sentence. McCleskey alone received a sentence of death. 

  

In 1984, the United States District Court overturned McCleskey's 

conviction and death sentence. The District Court found that informant Offie 

Evans had been secretly promised favorable judicial treatment by the State in 
exchange for his adverse testimony against Warren McCleskey. This secret 
State conduct violated constitutional rights that have long been protected by 
the Fourteenth Amendment. Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972). On 
appeal, hovever, the federal court of appeals overturned McCleskey's grant of 
relief, finding that the State's promise to Evans had been negligible. 

  

Two of McCleskey's trial jurors have given sworn affidavits stating that 

if they had known about the evidence of misconduct later uncovered in 1984, 
they would never have voted to impose a death sentence on McCleskey in 1978. 

The State's case against McCleskey as the triggerman, they explained, was very 
weak, and it was only their misplaced confidence in informant Offie Evans that 

allowed them to vote for death. 

  

  

  

  

In 1986-1987, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United 
States also rejected massive evidence that Warren McCleskey's death sentence, 
like many in the State of Georgia, had been imposed in a racially 
discriminatory pattern: black defendants like McCleskey who killed whites 
were receiving death sentences over four times as often as those who killed 

black victims, even when the circumstances of the crime were nearly identical. 
Indeed, in Fulton County where McCleskey was tried, between 1973 and 1980 at 
least 17 persons had been arrested for murder against police officials -- yet 
Warren McCleskey was the only one of these seventeen who received a death 
sentence. See McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987). 

  

  

  

After the Supreme Court denied relief to McCleskey in 1987, and shortly 
before his execution, McCleskey's lawyers stumbled across new evidence of 
another flagrant constitutional violation: that Atlanta police had secretly 

  

  

planted informant Evans near McCleskey's cell, had instructed Evans to obtain 

 



  

a confession from McCleskey, and had covered up their misconduct when later 
asked. (Conservative Justices Warren Burger and William Rehnquist have both 
written opinions in the past clearly condemning such secret misconduct as a 
violation of the Sixth Amendment. See United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264 
(1980)). For a second time, the United States District Court overturned 
McCleskey's conviction and death sentence. Yet for a second time, the court 
of appeals and the Supreme Court reversed. These appellate courts did not 
overturn the finding that Atlanta officers had engaged in unconstitutional 
behavior; instead, they held that McCleskey's lawyers should have uncovered 
evidence of the police misconduct sooner. See McCleskey v. Zant, U.S.__, 59 
u.s,L.%. 4288 (U.8., 3pril 16, 1991). 

  

  

  

What the Supreme Court did in McCleskey's second appeal is a travesty. 
They have held that no matter how terrible the constitutional violation, no 
matter how calculated and ruthless the police misconduct, that misconduct will 
be overlooked, and a defendant put to death, absent proof of exceptional 
circumstances almost impossible to meet. It is not enough to prove that the 

police and other members of the prosecution team committed perjury, lied, and 
otherwise acted to cover up evidence of their own actions. 

B. The Current Situation 

The Supreme Court is presently considering McCleskey's final petition 
for rehearing, which argues that it was impossible to uncover evidence which 
the police themselves had carefully hidden. That petition will likely be 
decided by June 10th. 

If the Supreme Court decides against Warren McCleskey, he has one legal 
avenue open: he can go back to the State courts, specifically, to the 
Superior Court of Butts County, Georgia, and urge that the Superior Court 
entertain to hear his evidence of police misconduct. There are two reasons to 
think that the Superior Court might do so: 

(i) the evidence of police misconduct had not surfaced 
when McCleskey came to that court in 1987; 

(ii) McCleskey didn't know about the misconduct in 1987 
because State officials had hidden it. 

An important Georgia Supreme Court case, decided in 1983, Smith v. Zant, 
250 Ga. 645, ___, 301 S.E.2d 32, 37 (1983), provides that if a defendant can 
present new evidence previously hidden by the State, the Superior Court should 
consider his claim on its merits. The Georgia case, in other words, appears 
to reject the Supreme Court's new standard and say that, in Georgia at least, 
proof of prosecution misconduct is enough. That's just what McCleskey can 
show here. 

  

AT A MINIMUM, NO DEATH SENTENCE SHOULD BE SET IN THIS CASE UNTIL AFTER 
THE SUPERIOR COURT, AND THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA, HAVE FULLY HEARD AND 
DECIDED HIS CLAIM. 

 



  

c, McCleskey's Case for Clemency 

There are at least three strong grounds for clemency in this case. The 
first is the serious, persistent doubt about whether McCleskey is actually the 
triggerman in this case. If he is not, it would be morally wrong for him to 
be executed while each of his three co-defendants receive lesser sentences. 

The grave questions about Offie Evans's behavior that have been raised in this 
case -- behavior that violated at least two separate violations of the federal 
constitution -- are alone enough establish a reasonable doubt about 
McCleskey's quilt. 

The second is the Supreme Court's dismissal of a host of constitutional 
objections -- to Offie Evans's secret offer of leniency, to the massive 
evidence of racial discrimination, to the proof of police misconduct -- all on 
what amount to legal technicalities. No one whose trial was so gravely flawed 
should be put to death. 

Finally, Warren McCleskey has done much to rehabilitate himself while in 
prison. He has complied with prison rules, made a useful contribution to 
prison life, started and led Bible study and religious class among Death Row 
inmates, and proven a reliable guide and counsellor to younger, more unstable 
inmates who have come to Death Row. Warren McCleskey is well-respected by 
prison guards, and he has a host of outside visitors who will praise his 
maturity, his insight, and his acts of consideration and kindness. 

 



a Gi - 

HLlA HESOURCE CENTER TF] 

 



  

PLEASE HELP 
GEORGIA’S DEATH ROW 

INMATE 
WARREN McCLESKEY 

kkkkkkkkkkkkkEkkkkkk 

The story you are about to read is and the names are those of 
real people. The facts are based on court testimony, statements of 
witnesses' interviews taken by Atlanta Police investigators and by 
independent investigators. 

This manuscript was not prepared by an intellectual genius; 
therefore, the language used is that of every day people. 
Furthermore, it was not proofread or edited; therefore, "let not 
your heart be troubled should you come across a flaw in the Queen's 
English. 

The purpose of this manuscript is to advise you of the facts 
surrounding the conviction and death sentence inflicted upon WARREN 
McCLESKEY for the May 13, 1978 murder of Atlanta Police Officer 
FRANK SCHLATT; whereas, McCLESKEY's three co-defendants were given 
lesser sentences for their direct involvements. It is hoped that 
this document will give you enough information to assist you when 
you write a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on 
behalf of WARREN McCLESKEY. 

After you have completed your reading, please act accordingly 
to ensure that WARREN McCLESKEY is not electrocuted in Georgia's 
Electric Chair! 

SUMMARY OF FACTS: 

On the morning of May 13, 1978, WARREN McCLESKEY, BEN WRIGHT, 
JR., Bernard DUPREE and DAVID BURNEY robbed Dixie Furniture Store 
on Marietta Street in Atlanta, Georgia. They committed the robbery 
in order to get money for BEN WRIGHT, JR. who wanted leave the 
State of Georgia to avoid being arrested on a previous armed 
robbery charge which occurred in Buckhead a few weeks before. 

WRIGHT, BURNEY and MARY JENKINS (WRIGHT's girlfriend) pulled 
a robbery in Buckhead around the end of April, 1978, according to 
BURNEY. BEN WRIGHT'S car was recognized in the Buckhead robbery as 
the get-away-car and MARY JENKINS was seen driving it. MS. JENKINS 

 



  

was apprehended days later while taking a leisure drive in the same 
vehicle. While being questioned by police, MS. JENKINS fingered 
WRIGHT in an intentional attempt to protect herself from being 
prosecuted; therefore, the Atlanta Police Department issued an 
arrest warrant for BEN WRIGHT, JR. 

On the 13th of May, WRIGHT, McCLESKEY, BURNEY and DUPREE drove 

to a jewelry store in Marietta. BEN WRIGHT, JR. went inside the 
store to check it out. WRIGHT decided not to rob it because it 
was unsuitable. The four then rode around Marietta looking for 
another place to rob but couldn't find anything fitting. WRIGHT 
decided that Atlanta would be suitable for an armed robbery: 
therefore, they drove to Atlanta. WRIGHT, in his leadership role; 
decided to rob Dixie Furniture Store. Each of the four men was 
armed. 

After casing Dixie Furniture, WRIGHT concluded that it was 
suitable to rob. WRIGHT informed each man on what to do. 
McCLESKEY was advised to guard the front half of the store, while 
the other two men who were accompanied by WRIGHT guarded the rear. 
WRIGHT pressured everyone into pledging not to tell on each other 
if either was ever captured. 

Atlanta Police Officer FRANK SCHLATT, responding to a silent 
alarm call, entered the front of the store with his revolver 
detached from the holster. OFFICER SCHLATT observed a suspect who 
turned out to be WARREN McCLESKEY holding store employee at gun 
point. OFFICER SCHLATT commanded McCLESKEY to drop the gun and 
turn around. BEN WRIGHT, JR. entered the front section of the 
store and fired two shot in the direction of OFFICER SCHLATT. 
Court testimony revealed that one bullet hit OFFICER SCHLATT in the 
chest and deflected off a cigarette lighter in OFFICER SCHLATT'S 
shirt pocket. The other bullet, which was fatal, penetrated the 
OFFICER SCHLATT'S head through his right eye. WRIGHT directed 
everyone to split. 

WRIGHT, after having killed Atlanta Police Officer FRANK 
SCHLATT, left Georgia and went to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The other 
three men, who had no reason to run, continued living in Metro 
Atlanta. 

Ballistics revealed that OFFICER SCHLATT had been shot by a 
.38 caliber Rossi revolver. The murder weapon was never retrieved. 
Nonetheless, trial testimony from expert witnesses profess that 
such a revolver had been stolen in the robbery of a Red Dot grocery 
store in Southeast Atlanta two months earlier. 

During the robbery, WRIGHT somehow left behind a leather 
jacket he was wearing that had a laundry ticket stapled in one 
sleeve. The jacket was traced by Atlanta police to a former owner 
who related he had given the jacket to BEN WRIGHT, JR. several 
months before. Atlanta Police launched a massive man hunt for 

2 

 



  

WRIGHT. In the meantime, police learned the names of WARREN 
McCLESKEY, BERNARD DUPREE and DAVID BURNEY through MARY JENKINS. 
Furthermore, police discovered that WRIGHT had left Georgia. 

Evidence suggest MARY JENKINS was an accomplice to the robbery 
and murder of OFFICER SCHLATT. JENKINS possibly drove the get- 
away-car during the Dixie Furniture Store robbery. WRIGHT, BURNEY 
and witnesses did identify MS. JENKINS as being the driver in the 
Buckhead robbery. Furthermore, witnesses vaguely remember seeing 
a lady fitting MS. JENKINS description in the car with the four men 
when Dixie Furniture was robbed. MS. JENKINS was never prosecuted 
for the robbery and murder. MS. JENKINS testified against 
McCLESKEY, BURNEY and DUPREE. 

McCLESKEY was arrested in Cobb County in the early morning 
hours while asleep at his sister's home on May 31, 1978. DAVID 
BURNEY was arrested on the same day in Techwood Homes while at his 
girl friend's apartment. BERNARD DUPREE gave up to police at his 
lawyer's office after learning he was being sought in connection 
with the robbery and murder. BEN WRIGHT, JR. was arrested months 
later in Pine Bluff, Arkansas for a string of robberies and 
assaults there. When arrested in Arkansas, he learned that he was 
wanted for the murder of a police officer back in Atlanta. 

WRIGHT, after being arrested in Pine Bluff, Arkansas was 
surprised and angered by the fact that Arkansas authorities knew he 
had been involved in a "cop-killing". WRIGHT assumed that the 
three co-defendants had "snitched on him". 

McCLESKEY and BURNEY both confessed to robbing Dixie 
Furniture, but denied killing OFFICER SCHLATT. BERNARD DUPREE 

denied any involvement in the robbery and killing even to the 
extent of claiming he was not with BURNEY, McCLESKEY and WRIGHT at 
all when the robbery and murder transpired. McCLESKEY and BURNEY 
identified DUPREE and WRIGHT as being involved after each had 
pledged not to tell on their partners if arrested. However, 
neither man fingered WRIGHT as the "triggerman". 

The Atlanta Police officials did not advised Arkansas that 
WRIGHT was not fingered by his co-defendants as the murderer. 
Misleading information and vengeance provoked WRIGHT to turn 
against his three partners. WRIGHT was so moved by the fact that 
he had been "told on" he devised perfect statements against the 
three men for the Assistant District Attorney, RUSSELL PARKER, and 
Atlanta Police Investigators, Welcome Harris, W. K. Jowers and 
Sidney Dorsey. WRIGHT was the one who first said McCLESKEY was the 
trigger man. However, witnesses present at Dixie Furniture the day 
of the robbery, clearly stated that the shooting did not occur 
until after BEN WRIGHT, JR. went to the front of the store. 

Ben WRIGHT testified in open court that McCLESKEY had a .38 
caliber Rossi nickel=-plated revolver---again, the pistol and murder 

3 

 



  

weapon was never found. MARY JENKINS told police and testified 
that WRIGHT was seen with the .38 Rossi weeks prior to the police's 
killing. However, WRIGHT testified that he himself was armed with 
a sawed-off shotgun, and that BURNEY and DUPREE had blue steel 
pistols. An article in the Atlanta Constitution quoted police 
investigators saying "OFFICER SCHIATT was killed by a sawed off 
shotgun that was fired at close range". 

WRIGHT claimed McCLESKEY was driving his personal vehicle, 
which was used as the get-away-car. WRIGHT, further testified that 
McCLESKEY parked his car up the street from the furniture store and 
that McCLESKEY entered the store and "cased" it. "After McCLESKEY 
returned to the car, the robbery was planned" WRIGHT testified. It 
is a known fact that WRIGHT was the ring leader and brain of the 
pack; therefore, each of the men complied with WRIGHT'S orders 
religiously. 

According to WRIGHT, in executing the robbery plan, McCLESKEY 
entered the front of the store and the other three entered through 
the rear by way of the loading dock. McCleskeky secured the front 
while he (WRIGHT) and the others rounded up the employees and 
customers in the rear and began to tie them up with tape and forced 
to lie on the floor. The manager was forced, by WRIGHT at 
gunpoint, to turn over the store's receipts, which included a watch 
and six dollars in cash. GEORGE MALCOM, an employee, testified 
that he had a pistol taken from him at gunpoint by WRIGHT. 

After WRIGHT had given his phony account of what happen, 
Atlanta Police Investigators and Assistant District Attorney 
RUSSELL PARKER were convinced that a jury would not return a guilty 
verdict against McCLESKEY based on WRIGHT's testimony; therefore, 
police investigators with the approval of ADA PARKER placed a 
professional informant named OFFIE EVANS, who used a false name, in 
the cellblock next to McCLESKEY, BURNEY and DUPREE. EVANS was in 
the Fulton County Jail on a federal warrant awaiting a probation 
revocation hearing on charges related to escaping from a federal 
halfway house. EVANS testified at trial that McCLESKEY admitted 
shooting OFFICER SCHLATT. McCLESKEY maintains he never had a 
discussion about the crime with OFFIE EVANS. 

It is believed that EVANS was prepared to testified by Atlanta 
Police Investigators and ADA Russell Parker. EVANS' testimony was 
too tight and authentic, which indicates EVANS had help. 
Furthermore, it was verified in later court challenges on behalf of 
McCLESKEY that EVANS was a professional snitch who would testify on 
behalf of the prosecution in cases tagged "difficult to get a 
conviction". 

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO: 

 



  

In exchange for his counterfeit statement and testimony, 
Assistant District Attorney PARKER spoke with federal officials on 
behalf of EVANS and EVANS was given favorable treatment and set 
free on the escape charges. OFFIE EVANS was released from the 
Georgia Penal System in 1988 after serving time for a variety of 
charges after many episodes of jail house snitching on behalf of 
the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. 

BEN WRIGHT, JR. was sentenced to 20 years each for 
Manslaughter and Armed Robbery. WRIGHT was released from prison in 
1987, committed a few armed robberies, kidnapping, aggravated 
assault and a drug charge. He was sentence to life plus 20 years. 
Presently, He is serving his sentences at Dodge Correctional 
Institution. 

DAVID BURNEY is serving a life sentence at Phillips 
Correctional Institution in Buford, Georgia for the murder of 
OFFICER SCHLATT and Armed Robbery. 

BERNARD DUPREE is serving a life sentence at Georgia State 
Prison in Reidsville, Georgia for the offenses committed May 13, 
1978. DUPREE'S sentence is on appeal and he is yet claiming he was 
not present during the armed robbery and murder on May 13, 1978. 

MARY JENKINS was never tried on any charges and she is 
presumably somewhere in the Metro Atlanta area. It was her 
assistance and information that helped Atlanta Police crack the May 
13, 1978 case. 

Assistant District Attorney RUSSELL PARKER now works as an 
assistant district attorney in the Cobb County District Attorney's 
Office. 

Detectives DORSEY, HARRIS and JOWERS are still working with 
the Homicide Division of the Atlanta Police Department. 

CONCLUSION 
No one is asking you to approve of the murdering of a human 

being. Law-abiding citizens should encourage our judicial system 
to reasonably punish persons who are fairly tried and convicted by 
an efficient jury. Moreover, the authentic evidence and testimony 
of credible witnesses should be a underlying element in convicting 
individuals charged with criminal infractions, particularly when a 
sentence of death is sought. In the case of WARREN McCLESKEY, the 
prosecution and police did everything that was not right to secure 
a conviction and death sentence. Concealing statements from 
witnesses that could have proved McCLESKEY was not the triggerman; 
placing a police informant (OFFIE EVANS) in the cellblock next to 
McCLESKEY for the purpose of questioning him regarding the crime; 

 



  

giving out a lesser sentences to BEN WRIGHT, JR. (the likely 
triggerman) for testifying for the prosecution; not prosecuting 
MARY JENKINS for the Buckhead robbery; and not telling the jury 
that OFFIE EVANS was a professional snitch---just to state a few of 
the ruthless and unconstitutional acts of the ADA RUSSELL PARKER 
and the Atlanta Police Department. 

If WARREN McCLESKEY'S execution is carried out, the City of 
Atlanta Police Department will have won a major victory in denying 
criminal suspects their constitutional rights as afforded in the 
United States of America Constitution. The 6th Amendment of the 
Constitution states, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused 
shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 
jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been 
committed, ..sse....., and to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in 
his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense." 

WARREN McCLESKEY has been snatched from the jaws of death on 
two separate occasions by the federal courts because constitutional 
violations were found in his conviction. However, on Tuesday, 
April 16, 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court unbelievably affirmed 
McCLESKEY'S conviction and death sentence, which authorizes the 
State of Georgia to set an execution date. The date has not been 
set, but is anticipated any day. 

WARREN McCLESKEY'S fate lies in the hands of members of the 
Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. If his life is to be spared, 
it is up to a majority of the five members. You are asked to write 
Pardons and Paroles today on behalf of WARREN McCLESKEY. 

ON BEHALF OF WARREN 
McCLESKEY, THANK YOU IN ADVANCE 
FOR YOU TIME AND ASSISTANCE. 

State Board of Pardons and Paroles 
Floyd Veterans Memorial Building 

5th Floor East 
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, S.E. 

Atlanta, Georgia 30334 
Telephone: (404) 656-5651 

THE BOARD MEMBERS ARE: 
  

1. WAYNE SNOW, JR., CHAIRMAN 2. JAMES T. MORRIS 
3. BETTYE O. HUTCHINGS 4. DAVID EVANS 
5. TIMOTHY JONES 

 



  

ws 

WASHI 
  

aw Worlsessey. April 17, 1991 ewes 

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By Bob Dart and Rhonda Cook 
aff writers 

IS HH ad 

. ~“WASHINGTON — Upholding a 1978 Georgia 
inurder conviction, the Supreme Court on Tuesday 
turtailed the right of death row inmates to appeal 
their cases repeatedly. 
'=+The 6-3 ruling is likely to shorten the time be- 
tiveen murder trials and executions, which now av- 
etages almost nine years. It imposes tough new 
{limits on federal court access for any criminal de- 
fendant to argue a violation of rights at the state 
tourt level, a process known as habeas corpus. 
*=-'The court ruled that if a state inmate can raise 
aiissue at the first federal appeal but fails to do so, 
ha issue generally may not be raised later. 

“The only exception to the new restrictions, Jus- 
: ice Anthony Kennedy said, are those rare in- 
“tances in which a defendant can show that he 

- 

. 

IGTON 

High court ruling could spe¢ 
  

» Court approves sales taxon cable TV. B2 
\ \ 

probably did not commit the crime. 
“It’s another step in the slamming of the court- 

house door to death row litigants,” said Alan Ellis, 
president of the National Association of Criminal 
Defense Lawyers. § 

Prosecutors said the Retision wil help stem 
abuse of the appeal system by convicted killers and 
by opponents of capital punishment who seek to de- 
lay executions indefinitely. 

In the ruling, the conservative majority of the 
justices rejected the claims of Georgia death row 
inmate Warren McCleskey, convicted of killing an 
Atlanta policeman in 1978, who already had had 
another appeal quashed by the high court. 

Justice Kennedy, writing the majority opinion, 
set new judicial guidelines requiring a prisoner 

  

The Atlanta Journal / The Atlanta Constitution’ 
  

d deaths of convicted killers 
seeking a second round of appeals to justify why 
the new claim was not made initially, and to prove 
that it involved a miscarriage of justice. 

An unlimited review system would “give liti- 
gants incentives to withhold claims for manipula- 
tive purposes and may establish disincentives to 
present claims when evidence is fresh,” Justice 
Kennedy wrote. | 

Georgia Attorney General Michael J. Bowers 
said the decision ‘goes a long way along the lines 
President Bush has been talking about in terms of 
reforming how the federal courts deal with state 
death penalty cases.” 

He said it would be about 30 days before he 
asked a Fulton County Superior Court judge to set a 
new execution date for McCleskey. 

In a sharply worded minority dissent, Justice 
Thurgood Marshall called the decision an “unjusti- 
fiable assault” on defendant rights. The ruling 

“tosses aside established precedents without ex; 
planation, disregards the will of Congress, fashions 
rules that defy the reasonable expectations of the 
persons who must conform their conduct to the: 
law’s dictates, and applies those rules in a way that. 
rewards state misconduct ahd deceit,” Justice: 
Marshall wrote. te 

- 

Justices Harry A. Blackmun and John Paul Ste<: 
vens joined Justice Marshall in the. dissenting 
‘opinion. — ne — 

+ The court dismissed arguments that Georgia of: 
ficials violated-McCleskey’s rights by using a fel: — 
Jow inmate in the Fulton County Jail, Offie Evans, 
to elicit a confession to the 1978 slaying of an Atlan-. 
ta police officer. Justice Kennedy said McCleskey’s : 
failure to raise the issue during an initial federal 
court appeal in 1981 disqualified him from raising: 
it in subsequent appeals. . 

 



  

A112 Friday, April 19, 1991 sass. 

  

  

  

THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION 
For 122 Years the South’s Standard Newspaper 
  

Jay Smith "+ Ron Martin 
Publisher a wn, Editor 

Dennis Berry John W. Walter Jr. * Tom Teepen 
President Managing Editor Editorial Page Editor 
    James M. Cox, Chairman 1950-57 --- James M. Cox Jr., Chairman 1957-74       

Supreme Court v. the Girne Writ 
One of the pillars of the American legal 

system is the right to challenge a criminal 
conviction in federal court. If you. believe 
your constitutional rights were violated in the 
judicial process, you can file a writ of habeas 
corpus in federal court to get the conviction : 
reversed. 

There's a danger, of course, that petitions 
ers might try to drag out their cases by filing 
one habeas petition after another, each rais- 
ing a separate constitutional claim. To pre- 
vent this, the courts are empowered to reject 
additional habeas petitions under the doc- 
trine of “abuse of the writ.” All constitutional 
claims must be raised at once, unless there 
are excusable grounds for having Reglecied 
to do so. 

At least that was the case before this 
week. In a radical departure from precedent, 
the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, has 
now erected a doctrine that says: Unless law - 
enforcement officials actively impeded or in- 
terfered with the defense’s efforts to bring a 
claim, and unless the alleged constitutional 
violation actually affected the trial’s out- 
come, then raising the claim is an “abuse of 
the writ.” : 

.* This ‘makes a mockery of the judicial 
process by encouraging the prosecution to 
play dirty, as the case in question shows. 

It involved Warren McCleskey, a Georgia 
man who was convicted of murder largely on 
the strength of his confession to a fellow in- 
mate. What the defense didn’t know at the 

- time of his first federal habeas petition was 
that the man who heard McCleskey confess 
was a government plant who had been of- 
fered a lesser sentence in return for getting 

the confession. As the court has ta 
recognized, such a confession may well ig 

. constitutionally inadmissible. 

' The defense didn’t know about the in- 
former not for lack of a good-faith effort to 

. find out, but because law enforcement: offi- ° 
-cials didn’t: come clean. Even under the 
court’s new standard, McCleskey ought to 
have had his case remanded. But the court. 

obviously believes that government ‘“inter- 
ference” must be at the level of, say, jury. 
tampering.’ 

One of the most revealing — and disturb-. 
ing — aspects of this decision is its radical 
overturning of the clearly expressed intent of 
Congress. The court’s earlier standard has’ 
been codified in federal statute; only last : 
year, Congress rejected an effort to change 
that standard. Yet the court blithely waved 
all this away. : : 

The hallmark of recent conservative for 

gal theory is that the courts should not make 
law but, to the maximum extent possible, fol- 
low legislative intent. This.theory has been. 
employed to avoid strengthening individual 

rights against: majority decision-making." 
What's clear from McCleskey, however, is 
that it is simply a theory of convenience, to be 

.* dispensed with whenever it suits the anti-lib- . 
ertarian prejudices of its proponents. 

In practice, second and third federal ha- 
beas. petitions consume very little time and 

: rarely result in the reversal of a conviction. 
But the court, zealous to lighten its caseload 
and eager to give the appearance of being 
tough on crime, has chipped away a signifi- 
cant piece of our edifice of justice. 

~ . 

K 3 tq “a 

 



  

14 v THE NEw YORK TIMES EDITORIALS 

  

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ADOLPH 8. OCHS, Publisher 1896-1935 
ARTHUR HAYS SULZBERGER, Publisher 1935-1961 

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Ehe New York Times 
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‘The Court Abuses the Great Writ | 
For centuries, the writ of habeas corpus has 

been a glorious exemplar of the rule of law, a 
mighty piece of legal paper that calls kings and 
jailers to produce their prisoners and demonstrate 

_ the legality of their detention. The Great Writ is, 
however, also subject to abuse, notably by prison 
inmates who file blatantly frivolous claims for 
release. 

The Supreme Court, preoccupied of late with 
perceived abuse of the writ, has piled up restrictive, 
technical rules. The other day, in the name of 
preserving the writ’s dignity, the Court counte- 
nanced a grave injustice. 

Lawyers for Warren McCleskey had proved, 
about as persuasively as the law can require, that 

his murder conviction and death sentence were 
obtained with the aid of a jailhouse informant 
planted by the Atlanta police in violation of his 

. established constitutional rights. They also showed 
that for nearly a decade, Georgia authorities had 
concealed telling evidence that the informant was a 
police agent. 

Not good enough, said a 6-to-3 Court majority in 
an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy. That evi- 
dence came too late, in a second habeas corpus 
petition filed in Federal court. Warren McCleskey 

. should have pleaded this point in his first petition 
years earlier. Never mind that Mr. McCleskey’s 

counsel uncovered the telltale evidence only Bier 
~ years of demands and denials. 

According to Justice Kennedy, the abuse com- 

mitted was not by the state but by the petitioner. 
The Justice fastened on this thin legal point: No 
lower court had specifically found conscious ob- 
struction and falsehood by state officials. He set 
stiff new rules to prevent prisoners from splitting 
their claims to get additional hearings. Then he 
applied those rules to the McCleskey case. 

Four years ago, when the Court reviewed Mr. 
McCleskey’s first habeas. corpus petition, his law- 
yers made another impressive case. They showed 
that he and other black men convicted of murder 
were four times more likely to be executed if the 
victim was white than if the victim was black. Not 
good enough, said the Court, 5 to 4. He had to prove 
that racial hatred had motivated his judge, jury or 
prosecutor. That’s when Mr. McCleskey’s lawyers 
went back and found the evidence of the planted 
informant. 

Warren McCleskey unquestionably participat- 
ed in a robbery that resulted in the death of an off- 
duty policeman in Atlanta. A jury decided that he 
was the triggerman, and deserved his death sen- 
tence, on the basis of surreptitiously obtained evi- 
dence whose illegality was hidden despite legiti- 
mate demands for documents. 

As Justice Thurgood Marshall said in dissent, 
the majority has rewarded ‘‘state misconduct and 
deceit.” It has now made the Supreme Court the 
principal abuser of the Great Writ. 

      

   



  

Yar/sy 
THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIALS 14 v Souda 

Che New Pork Times 
! Founded in 185! 

ADOLPH 8, OCHS, Publisher 1806-1938 
ARTHUR HAYS BULZBERGER, Publisher 1835-1961 

ORVIL E. DRYPOOS, Publisher 1981-1963 

  

ARTHUR QCHS SULZBERGER, Publisher 
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LJ 

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CAROLYN LEE, Assistant Managing Editor 
JOHN M. LEE, Assistont Managing Editor 

ALLAN M. BIEGAL. Asslatont Managing Editor 
[J] 

JACK ROSENTHAL. Editorial Page Editor 
PHILIP M. BOFFEY, Deputy Editoriol Page Bditor 

LE 

LANCE R. PRIMIS, President 

RUSSELL T. LEWIS, 8§2.V P, Production 
ERICH G. LINKER JR. Sr.V.P, Advertising 

JOHN M. O'BRIEN, 8r.V.P, Finance/Human Resources 
WILLIAM L. POLLAK, Sr.VP, Circulation 

ELISE J. ROSS. 8 V.P, Systems 
JAMES A. CUTIE, V.P, Markeling   
    

\ 

The Court Sets a Death Agenda 
When new Supreme Court majorities hasten to 

overrule the Court's own recent precedents, the 
justices invite the public to believe, as Felix Frank- 
furter once warned, “that law is an expression of 
chance -- for instance, of unexpected changes in the 
Court's composition and the contingencies in the 
choice of successors.” Led by Chief Justice Rehn.- 
quist, today's Court is running just such a risk to its 
reputation and to justice on a death penalty issue 
that doesn’t deserve such abuse. 

Over the dissents of three members, the Court 
staged oral arguments this week on whether to 
overturn capital punishment decisions rendered by 
retired Justices Lewis Powell in 1987 and William 
Brennan only two years ago. Those rulings prevent 
prosecutors who are seeking the death penalty from 
making a special issue of the murder victim's high 
community standing or the bercavement of the 
victim's family. 

On the merits, the Court was right in the first 
place. Victims’ rights obviously need attention. But 
when a jury is asked to choose between death or life 
imprisonment for a convicted murderer, that deci- 
sion must turn on the defendant’s character, not the 
happenstance of whether the victim was a vagrant 
or a piliar of the community. 

Allowing the prosecution tv exalt the victim's 
character would also mean that the defense could 

he
 FOR YOUR 

disparage the victim. Attorney General Dick Thorn- 
burgh, in a ceremonial appearance as “friend of the 
Court,” offered a cure for that: the defense simply 
“should not be allowed to denigrate the value of the 
life'’ that was lost. But gagging the defense would be 
an unconscionable slanting of justice. 

The Court has gone to unseemly lengths to 
raise the issue when neither states nor defense 
attorneys raised it on their own. Finding that a case 
from Ohio didn't depend on the issue it wanted to 
hear, the Court called up a Tennessee murder case 
and instructed lawyers for the state and the defend- 
ant, Pervis Payne, a convicted murderer, to pre- 

pare arguments on an expedited basis. 
It's bad enough that the capital punishment 

system already executes far more prisoners who 
kill whites than those who kill blacks. Since 1876 the 
system has executed 145 killers but not a single 
white murdercr whose victim was black. By letting 
prosecutors urge juries to let their verdict turn on 
the worth of the victim, the Court would probably 
reinforce the bias in the system. 

Chief Justice Rehnquist noted approvingly at 
this week's argument that prosecutors who seek 
death verdicts are bound “to get into a few rhapso- 
dies” about victim rights. But even those justices 

. who favor the death penalty should worry about the 
way the Court finds and declares the law. 

  

 



  

PLEASE HELP 
GEORGIA’S DEATH ROW 

INMATE 
WARREN McCLESKEY 

kokkkkkkkkk kk kkk kkk 

The story you are about to read is and the names are those of 
real people. The facts are based on court testimony, statements of 
witnesses' interviews taken by Atlanta Police investigators and by 
independent investigators. 

This manuscript was not prepared by an intellectual genius; 
therefore, the language used is that of every day people. 
Furthermore, it was not proofread or edited; therefore, "let not 
your heart be troubled should you come across a flaw in the Queen's 
English. 

The purpose of this manuscript is to advise you of the facts 
surrounding the conviction and death sentence inflicted upon WARREN 
McCLESKEY for the May 13, 1978 murder of Atlanta Police Officer 
FRANK SCHLATT; whereas, McCLESKEY's three co-defendants were given 
lesser sentences for their direct involvements. It is hoped that 
this document will give you enough information to assist you when 
you write a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on 
behalf of WARREN McCLESKEY. 

After you have completed your reading, please act accordingly 
to ensure that WARREN McCLESKEY is not electrocuted in Georgia's 
Electric Chair! 

SUMMARY OF FACTS: 

On the morning of May 13, 1978, WARREN McCLESKEY, BEN WRIGHT, 
JR., Bernard DUPREE and DAVID BURNEY robbed Dixie Furniture Store 
on Marietta Street in Atlanta, Georgia. They committed the robbery 
in order to get money for BEN WRIGHT, JR. who wanted leave the 
State of Georgia to avoid being arrested on a previous armed 
robbery charge which occurred in Buckhead a few weeks before. 

WRIGHT, BURNEY and MARY JENKINS (WRIGHT's girlfriend) pulled 
a robbery in Buckhead around the end of April, 1978, according to 
BURNEY. BEN WRIGHT'S car was recognized in the Buckhead robbery as 
the get-away-car and MARY JENKINS was seen driving it. MS. JENKINS 

 



  

was apprehended days later while taking a leisure drive in the same 
vehicle. While being questioned by police, MS. JENKINS fingered 
WRIGHT in an intentional attempt to protect herself from being 
prosecuted; therefore, the Atlanta Police Department issued an 
arrest warrant for BEN WRIGHT, JR. 

On the 13th of May, WRIGHT, McCLESKEY, BURNEY and DUPREE drove 
to a jewelry store in Marietta. BEN WRIGHT, JR. went inside the 
store to check it out. WRIGHT decided not to rob it because it 
was unsuitable. The four then rode around Marietta looking for 
another place to rob but couldn't find anything fitting. WRIGHT 
decided that Atlanta would be suitable for an armed robbery: 
therefore, they drove to Atlanta. WRIGHT, in his leadership role; 
decided to rob Dixie Furniture Store. Each of the four men was 
armed. 

After casing Dixie Furniture, WRIGHT concluded that it was 
suitable to rob. WRIGHT informed each man on what to do. 
McCLESKEY was advised to guard the front half of the store, while 
the other two men who were accompanied by WRIGHT guarded the rear. 
WRIGHT pressured everyone into pledging not to tell on each other 
if either was ever captured. 

Atlanta Police Officer FRANK SCHLATT, responding to a silent 
alarm call, entered the front of the store with his revolver 
detached from the holster. OFFICER SCHLATT observed a suspect who 
turned out to be WARREN McCLESKEY holding store employee at gun 
point. OFFICER SCHLATT commanded McCLESKEY to drop the gun and 
turn around. BEN WRIGHT, JR. entered the front section of the 
store and fired two shot in the direction of OFFICER SCHLATT. 
Court testimony revealed that one bullet hit OFFICER SCHLATT in the 
chest and deflected off a cigarette lighter in OFFICER SCHLATT'S 
shirt pocket. The other bullet, which was fatal, penetrated the 
OFFICER SCHIATT'S head through his right eye. WRIGHT directed 
everyone to split. 

WRIGHT, after having killed Atlanta Police Officer FRANK 
SCHLATT, left Georgia and went to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The other 
three men, who had no reason to run, continued living in Metro 
Atlanta. 

Ballistics revealed that OFFICER SCHLATT had been shot by a 
.38 caliber Rossi revolver. The murder weapon was never retrieved. 
Nonetheless, trial testimony from expert witnesses profess that 
such a revolver had been stolen in the robbery of a Red Dot grocery 
store in Southeast Atlanta two months earlier. 

During the robbery, WRIGHT somehow left behind a leather 
jacket he was wearing that had a laundry ticket stapled in one 
sleeve. The jacket was traced by Atlanta police to a former owner 
who related he had given the jacket to BEN WRIGHT, JR. several 
months before. Atlanta Police launched a massive man hunt for 

2 

   



  

WRIGHT. In the meantime, police learned the names of WARREN 
McCLESKEY, BERNARD DUPREE and DAVID BURNEY through MARY JENKINS. 
Furthermore, police discovered that WRIGHT had left Georgia. 

Evidence suggest MARY JENKINS was an accomplice to the robbery 
and murder of OFFICER SCHLATT. JENKINS possibly drove the get- 
away-car during the Dixie Furniture Store robbery. WRIGHT, BURNEY 
and witnesses did identify MS. JENKINS as being the driver in the 
Buckhead robbery. Furthermore, witnesses vaguely remember seeing 
a lady fitting MS. JENKINS description in the car with the four men 
when Dixie Furniture was robbed. MS. JENKINS was never prosecuted 
for the robbery and murder. MS. JENKINS testified against 
McCLESKEY, BURNEY and DUPREE. 

McCLESKEY was arrested in Cobb County in the early morning 
hours while asleep at his sister's home on May 31, 1978. DAVID 
BURNEY was arrested on the same day in Techwood Homes while at his 
girl friend's apartment. BERNARD DUPREE gave up to police at his 
lawyer's office after learning he was being sought in connection 
with the robbery and murder. BEN WRIGHT, JR. was arrested months 
later in Pine Bluff, Arkansas for a string of robberies and 
assaults there. When arrested in Arkansas, he learned that he was 
wanted for the murder of a police officer back in Atlanta. 

WRIGHT, after being arrested in Pine Bluff, Arkansas was 
surprised and angered by the fact that Arkansas authorities knew he 
had been involved in a "cop-killing". WRIGHT assumed that the 
three co-defendants had "snitched on him". 

McCCLESKEY and BURNEY both confessed to robbing Dixie 
Furniture, but denied killing OFFICER SCHLATT. BERNARD DUPREE 
denied any involvement in the robbery and killing even to the 
extent of claiming he was not with BURNEY, McCLESKEY and WRIGHT at 
all when the robbery and murder transpired. McCLESKEY and BURNEY 
identified DUPREE and WRIGHT as being involved after each had 
pledged not to tell on their partners if arrested. However, 
neither man fingered WRIGHT as the "triggerman". 

The Atlanta Police officials did not advised Arkansas that 
WRIGHT was not fingered by his co-defendants as the murderer. 
Misleading information and vengeance provoked WRIGHT to turn 
against his three partners. WRIGHT was so moved by the fact that 
he had been "told on" he devised perfect statements against the 
three men for the Assistant District Attorney, RUSSELL PARKER, and 
Atlanta Police Investigators, Welcome Harris, W. K. Jowers and 
Sidney Dorsey. WRIGHT was the one who first said McCLESKEY was the 
trigger man. However, witnesses present at Dixie Furniture the day 
of the robbery, clearly stated that the shooting did not occur 
until after BEN WRIGHT, JR. went to the front of the store. 

Ben WRIGHT testified in open court that McCLESKEY had a .38 
caliber Rossi nickel-plated revolver---again, the pistol and murder 

3 

 



  

weapon was never found. MARY JENKINS told police and testified 
that WRIGHT was seen with the .38 Rossi weeks prior to the police's 
killing. However, WRIGHT testified that he himself was armed with 
a sawed-off shotgun, and that BURNEY and DUPREE had blue steel 
pistols. An article in the Atlanta Constitution quoted police 
investigators saying "OFFICER SCHLATT was killed by a sawed off 
shotgun that was fired at close range". 

WRIGHT claimed McCLESKEY was driving his personal vehicle, 
which was used as the get-away-car. WRIGHT, further testified that 
McCLESKEY parked his car up the street from the furniture store and 
that McCLESKEY entered the store and "cased" it. "After McCLESKEY 
returned to the car, the robbery was planned" WRIGHT testified. It 
is a known fact that WRIGHT was the ring leader and brain of the 
pack; therefore, each of the men complied with WRIGHT'S orders 
religiously. 

According to WRIGHT, in executing the robbery plan, McCLESKEY 
entered the front of the store and the other three entered through 
the rear by way of the loading dock. McCleskeky secured the front 
while he (WRIGHT) and the others rounded up the employees and 
customers in the rear and began to tie them up with tape and forced 
to lie on the floor. The manager was forced, by WRIGHT at 
gunpoint, to turn over the store's receipts, which included a watch 
and six dollars in cash. GEORGE MALCOM, an employee, testified 
that he had a pistol taken from him at gunpoint by WRIGHT. 

After WRIGHT had given his phony account of what happen, 
Atlanta Police Investigators and Assistant District Attorney 
RUSSELL PARKER were convinced that a jury would not return a guilty 
verdict against McCLESKEY based on WRIGHT's testimony; therefore, 
police investigators with the approval of ADA PARKER placed a 
professional informant named OFFIE EVANS, who used a false name, in 
the cellblock next to McCLESKEY, BURNEY and DUPREE. EVANS was in 
the Fulton County Jail on a federal warrant awaiting a probation 
revocation hearing on charges related to escaping from a federal 
halfway house. EVANS testified at trial that McCLESKEY admitted 
shooting OFFICER SCHLATT. McCLESKEY maintains he never had a 
discussion about the crime with OFFIE EVANS. 

It is believed that EVANS was prepared to testified by Atlanta 
Police Investigators and ADA Russell Parker. EVANS' testimony was 
too tight and authentic, which indicates EVANS had help. 
Furthermore, it was verified in later court challenges on behalf of 
McCLESKEY that EVANS was a professional snitch who would testify on 
behalf of the prosecution in cases tagged "difficult to get a 
conviction. 

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO: 

 



  

In exchange for his counterfeit statement and testimony, 
Assistant District Attorney PARKER spoke with federal officials on 
behalf of EVANS and EVANS was given favorable treatment and set 
free on the escape charges. OFFIE EVANS was released from the 
Georgia Penal System in 1988 after serving time for a variety of 
charges after many episodes of jail house snitching on behalf of 
the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. 

BEN WRIGHT, JR. was sentenced to 20 years each for 
Manslaughter and Armed Robbery. WRIGHT was released from prison in 
1987, committed a few armed robberies, kidnapping, aggravated 
assault and a drug charge. He was sentence to life plus 20 years. 
Presently, He is serving his sentences at Dodge Correctional 
Institution. 

DAVID BURNEY is serving a life sentence at Phillips 
Correctional Institution in Buford, Georgia for the murder of 
OFFICER SCHLATT and Armed Robbery. 

BERNARD DUPREE is serving a life sentence at Georgia State 
Prison in Reidsville, Georgia for the offenses committed May 13, 
1978. DUPREE'S sentence is on appeal and he is yet claiming he was 
not present during the armed robbery and murder on May 13, 1978. 

MARY JENKINS was never tried on any charges and she is 
presumably somewhere in the Metro Atlanta area. It was her 
assistance and information that helped Atlanta Police crack the May 
13, 1978 case. 

Assistant District Attorney RUSSELL PARKER now works as an 
assistant district attorney in the Cobb County District Attorney's 
Office. 

Detectives DORSEY, HARRIS and JOWERS are still working with 
the Homicide Division of the Atlanta Police Department. 

CONCLUSION 

No one is asking you to approve of the murdering of a human 
being. Law-abiding citizens should encourage our judicial system 
to reasonably punish persons who are fairly tried and convicted by 
an efficient jury. Moreover, the authentic evidence and testimony 
of credible witnesses should be a underlying element in convicting 
individuals charged with criminal infractions, particularly when a 
sentence of death is sought. In the case of WARREN McCLESKEY, the 
prosecution and police did everything that was not right to secure 
a conviction and death sentence. Concealing statements from 
witnesses that could have proved McCLESKEY was not the triggerman; 
placing a police informant (OFFIE EVANS) in the cellblock next to 
McCLESKEY for the purpose of questioning him regarding the crime; 

 



  

giving out a lesser sentences to BEN WRIGHT, JR. (the likely 
triggerman) for testifying for the prosecution; not prosecuting 
MARY JENKINS for the Buckhead robbery; and not telling the jury 
that OFFIE EVANS was a professional snitch---just to state a few of 
the ruthless and unconstitutional acts of the ADA RUSSELL PARKER 
and the Atlanta Police Department. 

If WARREN McCLESKEY'S execution is carried out, the City of 
Atlanta Police Department will have won a major victory in denying 
criminal suspects their constitutional rights as afforded in the 
United States of America Constitution. The 6th Amendment of the 
Constitution states, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused 
shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 
jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been 
committed, ....... , and to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in 
his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense." 

WARREN McCLESKEY has been snatched from the jaws of death on 
two separate occasions by the federal courts because constitutional 
violations were found in his conviction. However, on Tuesday, 
April 16, 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court unbelievably affirmed 
McCLESKEY'S conviction and death sentence, which authorizes the 
State of Georgia to set an execution date. The date has not been 
set, but is anticipated any day. 

WARREN MCcCLESKEY'S fate lies in the hands of members of the 
Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. If his life is to be spared, 
it is up to a majority of the five members. You are asked to write 
Pardons and Paroles today on behalf of WARREN McCLESKEY. 

ON BEHALF OF WARREN 
McCLESKEY, THANK YOU IN ADVANCE 
FOR YOU TIME AND ASSISTANCE. 

State Board of Pardons and Paroles 
Floyd Veterans Memorial Building 

5th Floor East 
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, S.E. 

Atlanta, Georgia 30334 
Telephone: (404) 656-5651 

THE BOARD MEMBERS ARE: 

l. WAYNE SNOW, JR., CHAIRMAN 2. JAMES T. MORRIS 
3. BETTYE O. HUTCHINGS 4. DAVID EVANS 
5. TIMOTHY JONES 

 



  

1 
, 

Wednesday April 17, 1991 sees 

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fy, "Bob Dart and Rhonda Cook 
: aff writers 

. =ZWASHINGTON — Upholding a 1978 Georgia 
indrder conviction, the Supreme Court on Tuesday 
turtailed the right of death row inmates to appeal 
their cases repeatedly. 
; :-2The 6-3 ruling is likely to shorten the time be- 
ween murder trials and executions, which now av- 

etages almost nine years. It imposes tough new 
limits on federal court access for any criminal de- 
fendant to argue a violation of rights at the state 
tourt level, a process known as habeas corpus. 
*=-'The court ruled that if a state inmate can raise 
airissue at the first federal appeal but fails to do so, 
tha} issue generally may not be raised later. 

“The only exception to the new restrictions, Jus- 
: i Anthony Kennedy said, are those rare in- 
‘ stances in which a defendant can show that he 

IGTON 

  

» Court approves sales taxon cable TV. B2 
a,   

probably did not commit the crime. 
“It’s another step in the slamming of the court- 

house door to death row litigants,” said Alan Ellis, 
president of the National Association of Criminal 
Defense Lawyers. . 

Prosecutors said the decision will help stem 
abuse of the appeal system by convicted killers and 
by opponents of capital punishment who seek to de- 
lay executions indefinitely. 

In the ruling, the conservative majority of the 
justices rejected the claims of Georgia death row 
inmate Warren McCleskey, convicted of killing an 
Atlanta policeman in 1978, who already had had 
another appeal quashed by the high court. 

Justice Kennedy, writing the majority opinion, 
set new judicial guidelines requiring a prisoner 

The Atlanta Journal / The Atlanta Consitien: 
  

d deaths of convicted killers 
seeking a second round of appeals to justify hy 
the new claim was not made initially, and to prove 
that it involved a miscarriage of justice. 

An unlimited review system would “give liti- 
gants incentives to withhold claims for manipula- 
tive purposes and may establish disincentives to 
present claims when evidence is fresh,” Justice 
Kennedy wrote. 

Georgia Attorney General Michael J. Bowers 
said the decision ‘goes a long way along the lines 
President Bush has been talking about in terms of 
reforming how the federal courts deal with state 
death penalty cases.” 

He said it would be about 30 days before he 
asked a Fulton County Superior Court judge to set a 
new execution date for McCleskey. 

In a sharply worded minority dissent, Justice 
Thurgood Marshall called the decision an “unjusti- 
fiable assault” on defendant rights. The ruling 

“tosses aside established precedents without ex: 
planation, disregards the will of Congress, fashions 
rules that defy the reasonable expectations of the 
persons who must conform their conduct to the. 
law’s dictates, and applies those rules in a way that. 
rewards state misconduct ahd’ deceit,” Justice: 
Marshall wrote. = 

Justices Harry A. Blackmun and John Paul Ste: 

High court ruling could spee 

vens joined Justice Marshall in the. dissenting: _ 

. The court dismissed arguments that Georgia of: 
ficials violated -McCleskey’s rights by using a fel: 
Jow inmate in the Fulton County Jail, Offie Evans; 
to elicit a confession to the 1978 slaying of an Atlan-. 
ta police officer. Justice Kennedy said McCleskey’ 8: 
failure to raise the issue during an initial federal: 
court appeal in 1981 disqualified him from raising; 
it in subsequent appeals. . 

‘opinion. a “3 

T — 

 



  

birid Kin nM A ND at oh hor a 20a Tk ee Wah ke Neneh iad 

A12 Friday, April 19, 1991 sass. ~ 
  

  

THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION 
For 122 Years the South’s Standard Newspaper 
  

Jay Smith © + Ron Martin 
Publisher 5 o Editor 

Dennis Berry John W. Walter Jr. © Tom Teepen 

President Managing Editor ‘Editorial Page Editor 

      James M. Cox, Chairman 1950-57 --- James M. Cox Jr., Chairman 1957-74   
  

Supreme Court v. . the Gro Writ 
One of the pillars of the American legal 

system is the right to challenge a criminal 
conviction in federal court. If you. believe 
your constitutional rights were violated in the 
judicial process, you can file a writ of habeas 
corpus in federal court to get the conviction 
reversed. 

There's a danger, of course, that petition- 
ers might try to drag out their cases by filing 
one habeas petition after another, each rais- 
ing a separate constitutional claim. To pre- 
vent this, the courts are empowered to reject 
additional habeas petitions under the doc- 
trine of “abuse of the writ.” All constitutional 
claims must be raised at once, unless there 
are excusable grounds for having neglecied 
to do so. 

At least that was the case before this 

week. In a radical departure from precedent, 
the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, has 
now erected a doctrine that says: Unless law - 
enforcement officials actively impeded or in- 
terfered with the defense’s efforts to bring a 
claim, and unless the alleged constitutional 
violation actually affected the trial’s out- ° 
come, then raising the claim is an “abuse of 
the writ.” : 

This ‘makes a mockery of the adele 
process by encouraging the prosecution to 
play dirty, as the case in question shows. 

It involved Warren McCleskey, a Georgia 
man who was convicted of murder largely on 

the strength of his confession to a fellow in- 

mate. What the defense didn’t know at the 

~ time of his first federal habeas petition was 

that the man who heard McCleskey confess 

was a government plant who had been of- 

fered a lesser sentence in return for getting : 

the confession. As the court has i 
recognized, such a confession may well pe 

. constitutionally inadmissible. 

~ The defense didn't know about the .in- 

former not for lack of a good-faith effort to" 
. find out, but because law enforcement offi- 
-cials didn’t: come clean. Even under the 
court’s new standard, McCleskey ought to 
have had his case remanded. But the court, 
obviously believes that government “inter- 
ference” must be at the level of say, jury, 
tampering. 

One of the most revealing — and disturb-. 
ing — aspects of this decision is its radical 
overturning of the clearly expressed intent of 
Congress. The court's earlier standard has’ 
been codified in federal statute; only last : 
year, Congress rejected an effort to change : 

that standard. Yet the court blithely waved 
all this away. ; 

The hallmark of recent conservative or 

gal theory is that the courts should not make 
law but, to the maximum extent possible, fol- 
low legislative intent. This theory has been 
employed to avoid strengthening individual 

~ rights - against majority decision-making. 
What's clear ‘from McCleskey, however, is * 
that it is simply a theory of convenience, to be 

- dispensed with whenever it suits the anti-lib- . 
ertarian prejudices of its proponents. 

In practice, second and third federal ha- 
beas. . petitions consume very little time and | 
rarely result in the reversal .of a conviction. 
But the court, zealous to lighten its caseload | 
and eager to give the appearance of being 
tough on crime, has chipped away a signifi- 
cant. Piece of our edifice of justice. 

:/ 
77 

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THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIALS 

  

Ehe New York Times 
Founded in 1851 

ADOLPH 8. OCHS, Publisher 1896-1935 

ARTHUR HAYS SULZBERGER, Publisher 1935-1961 
ORVIL E. DRYPOOS, Publisher 1961-1963 . 

  

ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER, Publisher 
ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER JR. Deputy Publisher 

® Max FRANKEL, ® Esecutive Editor 
> JOSEPH LELYVELD, Managing Editor 

WARREN HOGE, Assistant Managing Editor 
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ALLAN M. SIEGAL. Assistant Managing Editor 
[ J 

JACK ROSENTHAL, Editorial Page Editor 
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: [ J 

LANCE R. PRIMIS, President 

RUSSELL T. LEWIS, Sr.V.P, Production 

ERICH G. LINKER JR. Sr.V.P, Advertising 

JOHN M. O'BRIEN, Sr.V.P, Finance/Human Resources 
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‘The Court Abuses the Great Writ | 
For centuries, the writ of habeas corpus has 

been a glorious exemplar of the rule of law, a 
mighty piece of legal paper that calls kings and 
jailers to produce their prisoners and demonstrate 

. the legality of their detention. The Great Writ is, 
however, also subject to abuse, notably by prison 
inmates who file blatantly frivolous claims for 

release. 
The Supreme Court, preoccupied of late with 

perceived abuse of the writ, has piled up restrictive, 
technical rules. The other day, in the name of 
preserving the writ’s dignity, the Court counte- 
nanced a grave injustice. 

Lawyers for Warren McCleskey had proved, 
~ about as persuasively as the law can require, that 

his murder conviction and death sentence were 
obtained with the aid of a jailhouse informant 
planted by the Atlanta police in violation of his 

. established constitutional rights. They also showed 
that for nearly a decade, Georgia authorities had 
concealed telling evidence that the informant was a 
police agent. 

Not good enough, said a 6-to-3 Court majority in 
an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy. That evi- 
dence came too late, in a second habeas corpus 
petition filed in Federal court. Warren McCleskey 

. should have pleaded this point in his first petition 
years earlier. Never mind that Mr. McCleskey’s 

"counsel uncovered the telltale evidence only after 
~ years of demands and denials. . ~~. 

According to Justice Kennedy, the abuse com- 

mitted was not by the state but by the petitioner. 
The Justice fastened on this thin legal point: No 
lower court had specifically found conscious ob- 
struction and falsehood by state officials. He set 
stiff new rules to prevent prisoners from splitting 
their claims to get additional hearings. Then he 
applied those rules to the McCleskey case. 

Four years ago, when the Court reviewed Mr. 
McCleskey’s first habeas. corpus petition, his law- 
yers made another impressive case. They showed 
that he and other black men convicted of murder 
were four times more likely to be executed if the 
victim was white than if the victim was black. Not 
good enough, said the Court, 5 to 4. He had to prove 
that racial hatred had motivated his judge, jury or 
prosecutor. That's when Mr. McCleskey’s lawyers 
went back and found the evidence of the planted 
informant. 

Warren McCleskey unquestionably participat- 
ed in a robbery that resulted in the death of an off- 
duty policeman in Atlanta. A jury decided that he 
was the triggerman, and deserved his death sen- 
tence, on the basis of surreptitiously obtained evi- 
dence whose illegality was hidden despite legiti- 
mate demands for documents. 

As Justice Thurgood Marshall said in dissent, 
the majority has rewarded ‘‘state misconduct and 
deceit.” It has now made the Supreme Court the 
principal abuser of the Great Writ.    



  

Hans 

She Netw ork Times 
! Founded in 1851 

ADOLPH 8, OCHS, Publisher 1896-1938 
ARTHUR HAYS BULZBERGER, Publisher 1935-1961 

ORVIL E. DRYPOOS, Publisher 1981-1963 

  

7 

THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIALS 14 v Souda 

ARTHUR OCHS SULIBRRGER, Publisher 
ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERROER JR. Deputy Publisher 

[] . 

MAX FRANKEL. Bseculive Editor 
JOBEPH LBLYVELD, Managing Editor 

WARREN HOOR, Assistant Managing Bditor 
DAVID R. JONES, Assistant Managing Editor 
CAROLYN LEE, Assistant Managing Editer 
JOHN M. LEE, Asristont Managing Editor 

ALLAN M. BIEGAL. Assiatont Managing Editor 
[J 

JACK ROSENTHAL. Editorial Page Editor 
PHILIP M. BOFFEY, Deputy Edituriol Page Bditor 

[J 

LANCE R. PRIMIS, President 
RUSSELL T. LEWIS, §2.VP, Production 

ERICH G. LINKER JR. Sr.V.P, Advertising 
JOHN M. O'BRIEN, 8r.V.P, Finance/Humon Resources 

WILLIAM L. POLLAK, Sr.VP, Circulation 
ELISE J. ROSS. §r.V.P, Systems 
JAMES A. CUTIE, V.P, Marketing   

  

  

\ 

The Court Sets a Death Agenda 
When new Supreme Court majorities hasten to 

overrule the Court's own recent precedents, the 
justices invite the public to believe, as Felix Frank- 
furter once warned, “that law is an expression of 
chance -- for instance, of unexpected changes in the 
Court's composition and the contingencies in the 
choice of successors.” Led by Chief Justice Rehn. 
Quist, today's Court is running just such a risk to its 
reputation and to justice on a death penalty issue 
that doesn’t deserve such abuse. 

Over the dissents of three members, the Court 
staged oral arguments this week on whether to 
overturn capital punishment decisions rendered by 
retired Justices Lewis Powell in 1887 and William 
Brennan only two years ago. Those rulings prevent 
prosecutors who are seeking the death penalty from 
making a special issue of the murder victim's high 

community standing or the bercavement of the 
victim's family. 

On the merits, the Court was right {n the first 
place. Victims’ rights obviously need attention. But 
when a jury is asked to choose between death or life 
imprisonment for a convicted murderer, that deci- 
sion must turn on the defendant’s character, not the 
happenstance of whether the victim was & vagrant 
or a piliar of the community. 

Allowing the prosecution to exalt the victim's 
character would also mean that the defense could 

Q
 FOR YOUR 

disparage the victim. Attorney General Dick Thorn- 
burgh, in a ceremonial appearance as “friend of the 
Court,” offered a cure for that: the defense simply 
“'should not be allowed to denigrate the value of the 
life’ that was lost. But gagging the defense would be 
an unconscionable slanting of justice. 

The Court has gone to unseemly lengths to 
raise the issue when neither states nor defense 
attorneys raised it on their own. Finding that a case 
from Ohio didn't depend on the issue it wanted to 
hear, the Court called up a Tennessee murder case 
and instructed lawyers for the state and the defend- 
ant, Pervis Payne, a convicted murderer, to pre- 

pare arguments on an expedited basis. 
It’s bad enough that the capital punishment 

system already executes far more prisoners who 
kill whites than those who kill blacks. Since 1976 the 
system has executed 145 killers but not a single 
white murdercr whose victim was black. By letting 
prosecutors urge juries to let their verdict turn on 
the worth of the victim, the Court would probably 
reinforce the bias in the system. 

Chief Justice Rehnquist noted approvingly at 
this week's argument that prosecutors who seek 
death verdicts are bound “to get into a few rhapso- 
dies” about victim rights. But even those justices 

. who favor the death penalty should worry about the 
way the Court finds and declares the law. 

  

 



  
Warren McCleskey Case -- May, 1991 

A. eneral Ba oun 

Warren McCleskey is a 44-year-old black man who was sentenced to death 
for his part in a May 13, 1978, armed robbery of the Dixie Furniture Store in 
Atlanta, Georgia. During the robbery, a white Atlanta officer, Frank Schlatt, 
entered the furniture store and was killed by a pistol shot fired by one of 
the four robbers. 

From the moment of his arrest, McCleskey admitted taking part in the 
robbery, but he has consistently denied that he was the triggerman who shot 
Officer Schlatt. There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, and the murder 
veapon itself was never found. The State's case against McCleskey turned 
largely on the testimony of two persons: (i) Ben Wright, a co-defendant and 
the leader of the four robbers, who gratuitously told the jury that McCleskey 
(and not himself) had done the shooting; and (ii) Offie Evans, a jailhouse 
informant, who said McCleskey admitted the shooting while in the Fulton County 
Jail awaiting trial. Co-defendant Wright was the other most likely shooting 
suspect, but he quickly agreed to testify against McCleskey in exchange for a 
life sentence. McCleskey alone received a sentence of death. 

In 1984, the United States District Court overturned McCleskey's 

conviction and death sentence. The District Court found that informant Offie 
Evans had been secretly promised favorable judicial treatment by the State in 
exchange for his adverse testimony against Warren McCleskey. This secret 
State conduct violated constitutional rights that have long been protected by 
the Fourteenth Amendment. Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972). On 
appeal, hovever, the federal court of appeals overturned McCleskey's grant of 
relief, finding that the State's promise toc Evans had been negligible. 

Two of McCleskey's trial jurors have given sworn affidavits stating that 

if they had known about the evidence of misconduct later uncovered in 1984, 

they would never have voted to impose a death sentence on McCleskey in 1978. 

The State's case against McCleskey as the triggerman, they explained, was very 

veak, and it was only their misplaced confidence in informant Offie Evans that 

allowed them to vote for death. 

In 1986-1987, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United 
States also rejected massive evidence that Warren McCleskey's death sentence, 
like many in the State of Georgia, had been imposed in a racially 
discriminatory pattern: black defendants like McCleskey who killed whites 
were receiving death sentences over four times as often as those who killed 

black victims, even when the circumstances of the crime were nearly identical. 
Indeed, in Fulton County where McCleskey was tried, between 1973 and 1980 at 
least 17 persons had been arrested for murder against police officials -- yet 
Warren McCleskey was the only one of these seventeen who received a death 
sentence. See McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987). 

After the Supreme Court denied relief to McCleskey in 1987, and shortly 
before his execution, McCleskey's lawyers stumbled across new evidence of 
another flagrant constitutional violation: that Atlanta police had secretly 
planted informant Evans near McCleskey's cell, had instructed Evans to obtain  



  

Nk Se cs hh Set A wok. Meta d, A sadn dr RAR TT a 

a confession from McCleskey, and had covered up their misconduct when later 
asked. (Conservative Justices Warren Burger and William Rehnquist have both 
written opinions in the past clearly condemning such secret misconduct as a 
violation of the Sixth Amendment. See United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264 
(1980)). For a second time, the United States District Court overturned 
McCleskey's conviction and death sentence. Yet for a second time, the court 
of appeals and the Supreme Court reversed. These appellate courts did not 
overturn the finding that Atlanta officers had engaged in unconstitutional 
behavior; instead, they held that McCleskey's lawyers should have uncovered 
evidence of the police misconduct sooner. See McCleskey v. Zant, U.S._ , 59 
v.s,L.W. 4288 (U.S., April 16, 1991). 

What the Supreme Court did in McCleskey's second appeal is a travesty. 
They have held that no matter how terrible the constitutional violation, no 
matter how calculated and ruthless the police misconduct, that misconduct will 
be overlooked, and a defendant put to death, absent proof of exceptional 
circumstances almost impossible to meet. It is not enough to prove that the 
police and other members of the prosecution team committed perjury, lied, and 
otherwise acted to cover up evidence of their own actions. 

B. The Current Situation 

The Supreme Court is presently considering McCleskey's final petition 
for rehearing, which argues that it was impossible to uncover evidence which 
the police themselves had carefully hidden. That petition will likely be 
decided by June 10th. 

If the Supreme Court decides against Warren McCleskey, he has one legal 
avenue open: he can go back to the State courts, specifically, to the 
Superior Court of Butts County, Georgia, and urge that the Superior Court 
entertain to hear his evidence of police misconduct. There are two reasons to 
think that the Superior Court might do so: 

(i) the evidence of police misconduct had not surfaced 
vhen McCleskey came to that court in 1987; 

(ii) McCleskey didn't know about the misconduct in 1987 
because State officials had hidden it. 

An important Georgia Supreme Court case, decided in 1983, Smith v. Zant, 
250 Ga. 645, _  , 301 S.F.24 32, 37 (1983), provides that if a defendant can 
present new evidence previously hidden by the State, the Superior Court should 
consider his claim on its merits. The Georgia case, in other words, appears 
to reject the Supreme Court's new standard and say that, in Georgia at least, 
proof of prosecution misconduct is enough. That's just what McCleskey can 
show here. 

AT A MINIMUM, NO DEATH SENTENCE SHOULD BE SET IN THIS CASE UNTIL AFTER 
THE SUPERIOR COURT, AND THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA, HAVE FULLY HEARD AND 
DECIDED HIS CLAIM.  



    

Cc. McCleskey's Case for Clemency 

There are at least three strong grounds for clemency in this case. The 
first is the serious, persistent doubt about whether McCleskey is actually the 
triggerman in this case. If he is not, it would be morally wrong for him to 
be executed while each of his three co-defendants receive lesser sentences. 

The grave questions about Offie Evans's behavior that have been raised in this 
case -- behavior that violated at least two separate violations of the federal 
constitution -- are alone enough establish a reasonable doubt about 
McCleskey's quilt. 

The second is the Supreme Court's dismissal of a host of constitutional 
objections -- to Offie Evans's secret offer of leniency, to the massive 
evidence of racial discrimination, to the proof of police misconduct -- all on 
wvhat amount to legal technicalities. No one whose trial was so gravely flawed 
should be put to death. 

Finally, Warren McCleskey has done much to rehabilitate himself while in 
prison. He has complied with prison rules, made a useful contribution to 
prison life, started and led Bible study and religious class among Death Row 
inmates, and proven a reliable guide and counsellor to younger, more unstable 
inmates who have come to Death Row. Warren McCleskey is well-respected by 
prison guards, and he has a host of outside visitors who will praise his 
maturity, his insight, and his acts of consideration and kindness. 

  

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03/22/81 11:03 FAX 404 651 8502 GEORGIA PAROLE Q0027002 

March 22, 1981 

Telephone: (404) 661-5887 
Contact: Richard Hyde, Director of Public Atfairs   News Relcasc Re: {8 

Wayne County Death Sentence Commuted by Parole Board 

The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has today commuted the death sentence of Harold Glenn 
Williams to life Imprisonment. 

Willams was convicted in Wayne County of the June 22, 1980, murder of his grandfather Archie Lane, 
who was repeatedly struck with a blunt instrument in his home. 

Parole Board Chairman Wayne Snow. Jr.. said the Board acted to reduces the punishment disparity 
between the two oodefendants in the cass. He pointed out thet Williams' half uncle Dennis Witllams 
was at least equally involved in the homicide. However, Dennis Willlama was allowed to plead guilty 
and receive confinement sentences which, under the Earned Time Law then In effect, amountad to five 
years. 

Mr. Snow noted that Harold Glenn Willams had also been allowed to plead guilty to voluntary 
manslaughter but later withdraw his plea, leading to the prosecution's pressing for the death penalty. 

Harold Glenn Williams, now age 33, had no previous criminal racord. He served honorably as a marine 
posted at Camp David, Maryland, to protect the President of the United States. 

Under the Georgia Constitution, Williams must be confined a total of 26 yeara before his first parole 

consideration. 

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