May 20, 2008

Attorney says jurors biased, seeks reprieve for murderer

By Jake Armstrong,
The Times-Union

ATLANTA - Attorneys for condemned double murderer Dorian Frank O'Kelley pleaded with the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday to spare their client from lethal injection.

Six jurors who heard O'Kelley's case in Chatham County Superior Court, including state Rep. Earl "Buddy" Carter, were unable to put aside their personal or political beliefs on the death penalty to deliver an impartial opinion, and Judge James Bass Jr. should have excluded them from the panel as a result, attorney Brian Daly argued.

During jury selection, Carter said he would have to explain any vote against imposing the death penalty to his constituents, Daly told the justices.

"We believe that political belief was a substantial impairment in and of itself," Daly said.

But Chatham County Chief Assistant District Attorney David Lock said further questioning of jurors by the judge revealed that all were capable of considering the three sentencing options in O'Kelley's case - death, life in prison without parole and life with parole.

He said conflicting answers several jurors gave in a survey and later under questioning by attorneys were the result of confusion over the way questions were worded in the survey and not coaxing in court.

"The court did not try to elicit a response from the jurors," Lock said.

A second attorney for O'Kelley, Michael Edwards, argued the court denied the defense a chance to make an opening statement in the sentencing phase of O'Kelley's trial in the deaths of Susan Pittman, 41, and her 13-year-old daughter, Kimberly Pittman.

Lock said a local rule doesn't allow that practice.

Georgia was the first state to execute an inmate since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in mid-April that Kentucky's use of lethal injection was not cruel and unusual punishment. Georgia has since set a second execution for Thursday, and the state's highest court cleared the way on Monday for two other executions to go forward in separate cases.

However, Edwards still argued the state's death penalty is unconstitutional, because the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling dealt with Kentucky's death penalty and not Georgia's.

Justices have until mid-July to issue a ruling on O'Kelley's appeal.

In June 2007, a judge sentenced O'Kelley's co-defendant, Darryl Scott Stinski, to die by lethal injection.

jake.armstrong@morris.com, (404) 589-8424




This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 4861.shtml.