McCleskey v. Kemp
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
753 F.2d 877 (1985)
- Written by Joe Cox, JD
Facts
Warren McCleskey (plaintiff) had been previously convicted of murder and sentenced to the death penalty in a Georgia state court. The defendant in the case, Ralph Kemp, was the superintendent of the prison where McCleskey was being held. McCleskey filed a writ of habeas corpus, seeking release. Part of McCleskey’s arguments included a regression analysis, which is a statistical study showing the relationship between variables. The study McCleskey sought to introduce indicated that Black defendants were substantially more likely than White defendants to be sentenced to death, particularly in cases in which the crime’s victim was White (which were the circumstances in this case). McCleskey’s petition was rejected, and he appealed that rejection. The court accordingly considered whether the regression analysis was admissible as expert evidence. Although courts have considered sociological evidence for many years, the role and nature of such evidence in an expert capacity were questioned in this case.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Roney, J.)
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