DEATH SENTENCE CHALLENGE OK’D OVER RACIST JUROR

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Monday gave a black death row inmate in Georgia a chance to challenge his death sentence because a white juror in his case later used a racial epithet in an affidavit and questioned whether black people have souls.

The justices stayed the execution last fall of Keith Leroy Tharpe, who was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of his sister-inlaw, Jaquelin Freeman. He shot and killed Freeman and left her body in a ditch while kidnapping and later raping his estranged wife.

Years after his conviction, Tharpe’s attorneys interviewed one of the jurors in his case, Barney Gattie. Gattie told them in a signed statement that “there are two types of black people: 1. Black folks and 2. N-----s.”

Tharpe “wasn’t in the ‘good’ black folks category in my book, should get the electric chair for what he did,” Gattie’s statement said, adding that after “studying the Bible, I have wondered if black people even have souls.”

Lower courts turned down Tharpe’s appeals based on Gattie’s statement, which he said had been taken after a long day of drinking. They found that the jury had not been prejudiced against Tharpe.

But the Supreme Court, in an unsigned 6-3 opinion, said Tharpe deserved another chance in court.

“Gattie’s remarkable affidavit — which he never retracted — presents a strong factual basis for the argument that Tharpe’s race affected Gattie’s vote for a death verdict,” the court wrote.