U.S. v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 15 October 2008
• Docket Number: No. 1:04-CR-160.,1:04-CR-160.
• Citation: 583 F.Supp.2d 923
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff v. Rejon TAYLOR, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee

583 F.Supp.2d 923

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff v. Rejon TAYLOR, Defendant.

No. 1:04-CR-160.

United States District Court, E.D. Tennessee, at Chattanooga.

October 15, 2008.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Steven S. Neff, U.S. Department of Justice, Chattanooga, TN, for Plaintiff.

Frederick L. Ortwein, William H. Ortwein, Ortwein & Ortwein, PC, Howell G. Clements, Clements & Cross, Leslie A. Cory, Chattanooga, TN, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM

CURTIS L. COLLIER, Chief Judge.

The Court is currently presiding over the trial of Defendant Rejon Taylor on charges of carjacking resulting in death, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2119(3); murder by use of a firearm during and in relation to carjacking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(j) (1); kidnapping resulting in death, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1); and murder by use of a firearm during and in relation to the kidnapping, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(j)(1). The indictment related to the murder of Guy Luck ("Luck"), a French national who was carjacked and kidnapped from Atlanta, Georgia, and driven to Collegedale, Tennessee (a suburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee), where he was fatally shot by Defendant. All four charges are capital offenses and expose Defendant to a possible sentence of death. At the conclusion of the guilt phase of the trial, the jury found Defendant guilty on all charges.

The trial is now in the sentencing phase. Pursuant to the Federal Death Penalty Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3591-3598 ("FDPA"), at the conclusion of this phase of the trial the jury will decide Defendant's sentence: death or life imprisonment without possibility of release.¹

This Memorandum concerns several outstanding motions and evidentiary and procedural issues related to the sentencing phase. For some of these issues, the Court has already ruled but did not provide its rationale. Because of the rarity of capital cases in federal court, some of the issues addressed by the Memorandum are without much case precedent.

The issues addressed by the Memorandum are:

1. Constitutional challenge to death penalty based upon race disparity and comparative proportionality, and discovery and admissibility of such information;

2. Admission of expert testimony regarding prison facilities;

3. Applicability of French law regarding the death penalty;

4. Admissibility of defense witnesses' pleas for mercy;

5. Admissibility of exhibits read during Defendant's unsworn statement to jury; and

6. Defendant's motion for a judgment as a matter of law.

I. RELEVANT FACTS

The evidence presented in the trial demonstrates Defendant had been responsible for various thefts and burglaries from Luck's house and other nearby residences in Atlanta between 2001 and 2003. On August 6, 2003, Defendant, along with codefendants Sir Jack Matthews and Joey Marshall, went to Luck's house with the intention of robbing him. After confronting Luck at gunpoint, Marshall guarded Luck while Defendant began looking through Luck's house. Inside the house, Defendant took around $600 or $800. Marshall testified Defendant later told him there was a warrant or other document connected with Defendant's arrest on theft charges in another case, which suggested Luck could be a witness against Defendant.

At gunpoint, Luck was forced outside his house and into his van. Defendant got in the driver's seat, while Matthews guarded Luck in the back. Defendant and Matthews each had a gun. Defendant drove the van onto Interstate 75 and traveled north from Atlanta. They made a brief stop at a gas station in north Georgia before eventually crossing into southeast Tennessee, where Defendant exited the expressway and drove into the Chattanooga suburb of Collegedale. During the trip, Marshall followed behind in a car registered to Defendant's mother.

As Defendant drove the van around relatively isolated roads in Collegedale, there was a confrontation in the back of the van, in which Matthews fired a shot, which hit Luck in the arm. Defendant turned around from the driver's seat and fired three shots at Luck. The third bullet hit Luck in the mouth and caused his death later that day at Erlanger Hospital. Defendant and Matthews left their guns in the van and walked briskly from the van to the car driven by Marshall. They then drove back to Atlanta.

Defendant was subsequently arrested and incarcerated pre-trial at the Hamilton County Jail in Chattanooga. While incarcerated there, Defendant was part of a group of inmates that attempted to escape.

II. RACE, DISCOVERY, AND COMPARATIVE PROPORTIONALITY

Defendant seeks to bar the death penalty due to alleged racial discrimination and disproportionality (Court File No. 702) and seeks discovery and an evidentiary hearing on the issue (Court File No. 704). The United States moves to prevent the testimony of Kevin McNally² regarding the dispositions of other potential capital cases and how they compare to the instant case (Court File No. 674). In response, Defendant seeks to admit McNally's testimony as to disproportionality and racial discrimination in the administration of the federal death penalty (Court File No. 701).

The three motions are of different natures—one is a constitutional challenge, one seeks discovery, and one is an evidentiary motion—but all have a common basis, and Defendant's briefs regarding the motions overlap significantly. Thus, the Court will consider all three motions together. The essence of Defendant's argument is that defendants who kill white victims are more likely to face capital prosecutions than defendants who kill nonwhite victims. Defendant notes that he is African-American, while the victim, Luck, was white. He alleges the United States Attorney did not request permission to seek the death penalty against Defendant but was ordered to do so by then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.³ Defendant alleges such situations occur disproportionately when defendants are African-American. Defendant also contends attorneys general of the United States have sought the death penalty in a disproportionate number of cases with black defendants and white victims and did not seek the death penalty when the victim was a member of a minority group. Furthermore, Defendant alleges federal juries have disproportionately sentenced defendants to death when the victim is white.

The government's theory in this case is that Defendant killed Luck because he was involved in Defendant's prosecution for property crimes in Georgia. In support of his motion, Defendant submitted a lengthy "declaration" by McNally (Court File No. 701 attach. 1). McNally lists nine recent cases in which the government has not sought the death penalty for the murder of a witness when the victim was a member of a minority group. There are three such cases listed in which the government withdrew its intent to seek death sentence without the defendants offering or agreeing to plead guilty. Similarly, McNally lists four cases in which the government did not seek the death penalty against white people who killed witnesses. He also lists two dozen cases in which juries sentenced defendants who had killed witnesses to life imprisonment. McNally also recites a number of statistics, such as that 70% of the most recent 33 federal death sentences have involved white victims. During the tenure of Attorney General John Ashcroft, the government sought death sentences against 32% of defendants accused of killing a white victim, compared to 18% of defendants accused of killing non-white victims. (However, because the number of non-white victims was almost three times as high as the number of white victims, there were 52 capital prosecutions involving white victims and 86 involving non-white victims.) The disparity was somewhat similar under Attorney General Gonzalez, who approved capital prosecution in 35% of cases (31 cases) with white victims and 16% of cases (50 cases) involving non-white victims. During Attorney General Mukasey's term, capital prosecutions were approved in 16% of cases (5 cases) with white victims and 11% of cases (10 cases) with non-white victims.⁴

From the materials submitted in connection with McNally's declaration, it does not appear he had any direct involvement in or first hand knowledge of the decision making process of the various attorneys general or that he was a participant in any of the federal death penalty cases described in the declaration. His knowledge appears to be obtained from reviewing documents or talking to individuals who may have been directly involved in the attorneys general decisions or the trials. For purposes of this Memorandum, the Court assumes this lack of direct or first hand knowledge would not serve as an impediment to the admissibility of his testimony if it was otherwise relevant or useful to the jury.

A. Constitutional Challenge

Because of the alleged disparities in capital prosecutions based on victims' race, Defendant requests the Court declare the FDPA unconstitutional and bar the death penalty against Defendant, or order discovery and an evidentiary hearing on the issue of race discrimination in this case. A previous decision in this case rejected Defendant's constitutional challenge:

Defendant does not argue the FDPA has unfair or inconsistent procedures, and he cites no cases supporting his contention the FDPA lacks a "principled basis for distinguishing cases" in which the death penalty will be sought from those in which it is not. Rather, Defendant emphasizes the effect of the FDPA, which is an unavailing argument. Inconsistent results are not unconstitutional. McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 307 n. 28, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987). "Numerous legitimate factors may influence the outcome of a trial and a defendant's ultimate sentence, even though they may be irrelevant to his actual guilt." Id.

(Court File No. 493, p. 7).

In his current brief, Defendant acknowledges the Supreme Court's decision in McCleskey, but argues it would be valuable to...