VERDICT: IS JUSTICE COLORBLIND?

In Alabama, blacks account for 2 percent of prosecutors, 4 percent of
criminal court judges, 26 percent of the population and 63 percent of the
prison population, according to Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama statistics.

While only 6 percent of all murders in Alabama involve black defendants and
white victims, more than 60 percent of death row prisoners have been
sentenced for killing someone white.

Nearly 65 percent of all murders involve black victims. But 80 percent of
all the prisoners awaiting execution in the state were convicted of crimes
in which the victims were white.

And nearly 70 percent of those executed in Alabama in the past 20 years
have been black, according to the EJI.

"I think there are still very serious problems," said Bryan Stevenson, EJI
executive director.

While Stevenson argues that these disparities are caused by a court system
that is inherently biased, many involved in the legal system disagree.

In the 42 years he has been practicing law, Florence attorney Don Holt said
he has not been personally aware of racial bias in the area's court system.

Holt said if he had ever seen bias, he would have been quick to take steps
to stop it.

"I would have raised the question early on if I thought there was racial
prejudice involved," Holt said. "I have not seen my black defendants
treated any differently as a group than my white defendants.

"I think the judges here have done everything they could possibly do to
avoid anything that could even appear to be racially prejudiced," he said.

Florence attorney Curtis Simpson, who is black, agreed.

"For the most part, the judges in the state courts in this area are
professional people and haven't had a racial agenda," Simpson said.

He describes the decor of the office of a particular circuit judge who has
a Norman Rockwell print on his wall depicting U.S. marshals escorting a
young black girl to school.

"It's had a prominent place in his office decor since he's been on the
bench," Simpson said.

The judge he was referring to is Lauderdale County's presiding circuit
judge, Mike Suttle.

"I certainly do my level best to make sure everybody is treated the same,
regardless of race, creed or religion," Suttle said. "I try to do that the
best I can. The law is supposed to be colorblind."

Obviously, the judge said, race was a factor in the Alabama court system at
one time.

"I think those days are behind us," he said.

Still, there are those in the state who believe there are areas of the
criminal justice system where bias still exists.

Local activist Lamont Liner said he strongly disagrees that bias doesn't exist.

"I would say they're just like the statue of justice that has the blindfold
on," Liner said. "They don't want to see the injustice going on in the system."

Stevenson explained that while blacks make up 27 percent of Alabama's
population, none of the state's 19 appellate court judges are black.

"There are no black district attorneys in the state of Alabama," Stevenson
said. "And at the appellate level, all the judges are white. At the local
level, all the elected district attorneys are white."

At the same time, 66 percent of the state's prison population is black.

"For anyone to think, with our continuing struggle with the legacy of
slavery, Jim Crow and racial apartheid, that race is not a factor in these
cases is just being very naive," Stevenson said.

He goes on to say that the Alabama court system, in particular the criminal
courts, is the one area of public administration that has been the least
affected by the civil rights revolution of the past 40 years.

Joseph Lowery, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, said the criminal justice system and the continued economic
disparity between blacks and whites are the greatest challenges when it
comes to race and class in America.

"The criminal justice system is unfair to poor people," Lowery said. "And
in great disproportion, that includes blacks and browns."

He said that category also includes poor whites.

Stevenson said there are still Alabama counties where the percentage of
blacks in the jury pool is lower than is it supposed to be.

"All that exclusion creates an appearance of bias," he said.

Simpson said the Batson rule of 1986 helped improve the racial makeup of
juries. That rule prevents prosecutors and defense attorneys from striking
potential jurors based solely on race.

The rule was expanded to ban exclusion by gender as well.

Stevenson said there are instances of both conscious and unconscious racial
bias.

As examples, he cites instances of police officers stopping young black men
who must have done something illegal to be driving an expensive car.

Liner said prosecutors will sometimes "overcharge" a defendant with a more
serious offense in order to get them to plead to a lesser charge. He said
the lesser offense is what the defendant should have been charged with in
the first place.

Because of the longer sentence associated with the more serious charge, the
defendant ends up pleading guilty, rather than face the possibility of a
long prison sentence.

Simpson said although he does not see racial bias on the part of judges,
there is some validity to some of Stevenson's statements.

"There are some governmental offices in Lauderdale County that have never
employed black employees," Simpson said. "And that has gone unchallenged."

The issues involving judges and district attorneys, he said, are real.

He said there are few African-American attorneys who choose to go into the
area of prosecution. In addition, judges and district attorneys are still
elected positions.

While he hasn't seen incidents of racial bias in Shoals courtrooms,
Florence attorney Marshall Gardner said some inequities do exist.

"Minorities seem to suffer much more the imposition of the death penalty
than do white defendants," Gardner said.

He said the more young black men are convicted of felony offenses, the
fewer there are at the polls, since convicted felons cannot vote.

"It disenfranchises them and takes them out of the political process,"
Gardner said.

He also said there is still an ongoing debate over the imposition of
harsher federal prison sentences for the possession of crack cocaine to
that of powdered cocaine.

"That has got to make the federal system appear racially biased," he said.

Gardner also agreed that nationally and statewide, minorities are more
likely to get jail time for a drug conviction.

The death penalty, he said, is more often imposed on minority defendants
than white defendants, he said.

Both Simpson and Holt said the racial climate in northwest Alabama is and
was different than that of other parts of the state.

"The environment in Dallas County is entirely different than Lauderdale
County," Simpson said.

Likewise, the climate in Tuscaloosa when Holt was attending law school was
much different than what was going on in Florence and the Shoals area at
that time.

Tuscumbia attorney Billy Underwood said he has had minority clients who
felt they did not get a fair shake because of their race.

He also said that he has had white clients who felt that they were
convicted because they weren't rich enough and didn't have sufficient clout.

"When you're the person the law is after, human frailties let us make an
excuse," Underwood said.

Judges in the area, he said, are totally blind when it comes to a
defendant's race.

"Unfortunately, the juries haven't reached that pinnacle," Underwood said.

Fellow Tuscumbia attorney Bryce Graham Jr. said he has not experienced a
racially biased ruling by local judges.

"I really haven't experienced that in my personal practice," Graham said.
"I've had some white people come out worse than some black defendants."

Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Mike Jones said when reviewing cases, he
has to remind himself that it doesn't matter if the defendant is black or
white, rich or poor, male or female.

"I have to remind myself that the same law applies to everybody," Jones said.

He said the appropriate outcome for someone from a "good family" should
also apply to someone from a disadvantaged background.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Sharon Hester said she has seen no obvious
racial bias in the county's court system.

She said the county's prosecutors are consistent in their recommendations.
Sentences, she said, are based on the circumstances of the case and the
defendant's criminal history.

"I do not see where race has been a factor," Hester said.

"No one has personally complained to me that they felt there was any
discrimination in our system. I am proud to be able to say that."

Suttle, Underwood and others said it would be difficult to prove racial
bias simply by comparing defendants charged with identical offenses.

"Just like no two snowflakes are alike, no two cases are alike," Suttle said.

Underwood said there are too many variables involved, such as the
defendant's background, the circumstances of the offense and past criminal
history.

Colbert County District Attorney Gary Alverson said the court system is
supposed to be the one place a person can go to get justice.

Sam Pendleton, president of the Tri-County Chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that in the past 25
years, local judges have been consistent in their rulings.

"I am especially impressed with Judge Suttle," Pendleton said. "Judge
Suttle has been very consistent and very firm."

He also said the local judges have been very visible in certain social
functions in the minority community.

"I think they have a sense of community, and with that, they apply the law
in a fair manner," Pendleton said.

Nationwide, however, Stevenson said crime and criminal policy have been
politicized in a way never before done in history.

"Everybody has tried to create an identity of being tough on crime, with
misguided and tough statutes, misdirected at people of color and the poor,"
he said.

Liner said politicians equate being "tough on crime" with locking people up.

"Unfortunately, they keep the public blind to the cost of keeping people
locked up," he said.

In addition, African-Americans generally don't have the voice that white
Americans have in the community to express their outrage at the way the
system is "railroading African-Americans into the prison system," he said.

Despite the inequities that Stevenson believes exist in the state's court
system, he said the trend can be reversed.

"I think it can be changed, but it will require much more of a commitment
than we have previously made," Stevenson said.

First, it must be acknowledged that there is a problem, and there must be a
commitment to policies that increase diversity.

"We must eliminate the practice of under-representation of minorities in
the jury pool and impose more responsibility on prosecutors and judges to
enforce fairness," Stevenson said.

In his opinion, the situation is not dramatically better than it was 40
years ago.

"Different, but not better," he said.