On this episode of Dorer Daily, I talk about how on May 23, 1934, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, known colloquially as “Bonnie and Clyde” shuffled off this mortal coil in a hail of gunfire on a deserted road in rural Louisiana. They were glorified in the media as a vicious criminal duo, were responsible for over 100 felonies and at least 9 murders, but all of that came to an end 82 years ago today when four Texas Police Officers, more than likely embarrassed by their own follies in failing to capture the gang), outside their jurisdiction, executed Bonnie and Clyde on site.
In the news today, the death penalty is a different animal than it was in 1934, or even in what it was on August 28, 1986. That day Timothy Foster admittedly burglarized a Mr. and Mrs. White. strangled Mrs. White, sexually assaulted her, and ultimately killed her. He was put on trial in Floyd County for malice murder and burglary — he was facing the death penalty.
In the jury selection process, the State, according to a decision released by the Supreme Court today “The contents of the prosecution’s file… plainly belie the State’s claim that it exercised its strikes in a “color-blind” manner. The sheer number of references to race in that file is arresting.”
You see, Mr. Foster’s attorneys got a hold of the Prosecutor’s file, and found ” (1) copies of the jury venire list on which the names of each black prospective juror were highlighted in bright green, with a legend indicating that the highlighting “represents Blacks”; (2) a draft affidavit from an investigator comparing black prospective jurors and concluding, “If it comes down to having to pick one of the black jurors, [this one] might be okay”; (3) notes identifying black prospective jurors as “B#1,” “B#2,” and “B#3”; (4) notes with “N” (for “no”) appearing next to the names of all black prospective jurors; (5) a list titled “[D]efinite NO’s” containing six names, including the names of all of the qualified black prospective jurors; (6) a document with notes on the Church of Christ that was annotated “NO. No Black Church”; and (7) the questionnaires filled out by five prospective black jurors, on which each juror’s response indicating his or her race had been circled.”
The State, according to The Supreme Court, sentenced a man to death based on racist strikings of critical jurors. As a result, Mr. Foster’s conviction has been set aside, and he will have to face a new trial if that State still wants to execute him.
Interestingly, a man Fulton County spent millions of dollars trying to execute (mind you, when death penalty is sought, every man will fight for his own life to the bitter end) but couldn’t secure a death sentence for, is spilling the beans for the first time today to WSB about what made him snap in that court house.
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