Morrow v. State

532 S.E.2d 78, 272 Ga. 691, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 2237, 2000 Ga. LEXIS 492
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJune 12, 2000
DocketS00P0112
StatusPublished
Cited by90 cases

This text of 532 S.E.2d 78 (Morrow v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morrow v. State, 532 S.E.2d 78, 272 Ga. 691, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 2237, 2000 Ga. LEXIS 492 (Ga. 2000).

Opinions

Carley, Justice.

Scotty Garnell Morrow killed Barbara Ann Young and Tonya Rochelle Woods and he was convicted by a jury of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, cruelty to a child, burglary, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The jury recommended a death sentence after finding beyond a reasonable doubt the following aggravating circumstances: that the murder of Ms. Young was outrageously vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture and depravity of mind; that the murder of Ms. Woods was outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind, and an aggravated battery to Ms. Woods before her death; that the murder of Ms. Woods was committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of the murder of Ms. Young and the aggravated battery of LaToya Precal Horne; that the murder of Ms. Young was committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of the aggravated battery of Ms. Horne; and that the murders of Ms. Young and Ms. Woods were committed while the defendant was engaged in the [692]*692commission of a burglary. OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (2), (7). Morrow appeals.1

Pre-Trial Issues

1. Morrow claims that Hispanics were underrepresented in the composition of the 1994 grand jury pool, and the 1999 traverse jury pool in violation of the Sixth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, OCGA § 15-12-40, and the Unified Appeal Procedure. To prevail on a Sixth Amendment jury pool composition challenge, Morrow must show: (1) that the group alleged to be excluded is a “distinctive” group in the community; (2) that the representation of this group in jury pools is not fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such persons in the community; and (3) that this underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion of the group in the jury selection process. Duren v. Missouri, 439 U. S. 357, 364 (II) (99 SC 664, 58 LE2d 579) (1979); Bowen v. Kemp, 769 F2d 672, 684 (11th Cir. 1985). To prevail on a Fourteenth Amendment challenge to the composition of a jury pool, Morrow must show: (1) the group is one that is a recognizable, distinct class; (2) the degree of underrepresentation, by comparing the proportion of the group in the total population to the proportion called to serve as jurors over a significant period of time; and (3) a selection procedure that is susceptible of abuse or is not racially neutral which supports a presumption of discrimination raised by the statistics. Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U. S. 482, 494 (III) (97 SC 1272, 51 LE2d 498) (1977); Bowen, supra. Generally speaking with regard to the second prong of both tests, an absolute disparity between the percentage of a group in the population and its percentage in the jury pool of less than 5% is almost always constitutional; an absolute disparity between 5 and 10% is usually constitutional; and an absolute disparity of over 10% is probably unconstitutional. See Cook v. State, [693]*693255 Ga. 565, 571 (11) (340 SE2d 843) (1986) (“As a general proposition, absolute disparities under 10% usually are sufficient to satisfy constitutional requirements.”). A violation of OCGA § 15-12-40 is proven by showing a wide absolute disparity between the percentage of the group in the population and its percentage in the jury pool. West v. State, 252 Ga. 156, 157 (1) (313 SE2d 67) (1984) (17% absolute disparity for females in jury pool from females in county population violates OCGA § 15-12-40); Devier v. State, 250 Ga. 652 (1) (300 SE2d 490) (1983) (36% absolute disparity for females in jury pool violates statute). The Unified Appeal Procedure states that there should be no imbalances for cognizable groups greater than 5%, UAP § E, but this Court has stated that the 5% rule is a prophylactic rule designed to ensure “to the extent possible that disparities would be kept well below the constitutional minimum.” Parks v. State, 254 Ga. 403 (6), 408, fn. 4 (330 SE2d 686) (1985).

The defendant has the burden of proving a prima facie case of constitutional error in the composition of the jury pool. Berryhill v. Zant, 858 F2d 633, 638 (11th Cir. 1988); Machetti v. Linahan, 679 F2d 236, 241, fn. 6 (11th Cir. 1982) (the standard for proving a prima facie jury pool composition violation is virtually identical under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment tests). With regard to the second prong of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment tests, the extent and effect of any alleged underrepresentation is a mixed question of fact and law. Berryhill, supra at 638, fn. 8. The degree of underrepresentation is a question of fact to be determined by the trial court sitting as factfinder. Berryhill, supra; United States v. Esle, 743 F2d 1465, 1472, fn. 12 (11th Cir. 1984). The sufficiency of the disparity, once its extent has been determined, to show a constitutional violation is a question of law. Berryhill, supra; Esle, supra. With mixed questions of fact and law, this Court accepts the trial court’s findings on disputed facts and witness credibility unless clearly erroneous, but independently applies the legal principles to the facts. Linares v. State, 266 Ga. 812, 813 (2) (471 SE2d 208) (1996).

Morrow claimed that the official 1990 Census was not reliable in determining the percentage of Hispanics in Hall County in 1994 and 1999 because there had been a large influx of Hispanics into the county since 1990 and a significant undercount of Hispanics during the 1990 Census. Instead of using the 1990 Census, Morrow presented an expert who had conducted a test census in 1996 of the Census block in Hall County that had reported the highest number of Hispanics in 1990. Overall, there are 86 Census blocks in the county. Respondents in the door-to-door survey of the 359 households in that Census block were told that no names were needed and that the survey responses would be shared with the Hispanic community to benefit the entire community. Morrow’s expert then determined that, [694]*694based on the test census and published estimates like the Georgia County Guide, there were approximately 2.5 times the number of Hispanics in Hall County than reported in the 1990 Census. She estimated that Hispanics who were over 18 and, therefore, jury-eligible, comprised 14.1% of the total jury-eligible Hall County population and, when compared with the .8% of Hispanics she found on the grand jury list, this amounted to an absolute disparity of 13.3%. She also used the 1996 test census and similar documentary sources to estimate that the absolute disparity for Hispanics was 12.7% when comparing the 1999 traverse jury list with the total jury-eligible Hispanic population.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brookins v. State
879 S.E.2d 466 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2022)
Dana Evans v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2021
Young v. State
860 S.E.2d 746 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2021)
Davis v. State
306 Ga. 764 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
Shubert v. State
306 Ga. 490 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
Willis v. State
304 Ga. 686 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2018)
Martin v. State
779 S.E.2d 342 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2015)
Spears v. State
769 S.E.2d 337 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2015)
Hulett v. State
766 S.E.2d 1 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2014)
Jermoris Felton v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2013
Felton v. State
745 S.E.2d 832 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2013)
Ellington v. State
735 S.E.2d 736 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2012)
Rice v. State
733 S.E.2d 755 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2012)
Jones v. State
727 S.E.2d 456 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2012)
Greene v. State
722 S.E.2d 77 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2011)
Humphrey v. Morrow
717 S.E.2d 168 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2011)
Bryant v. State
708 S.E.2d 362 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2011)
Worthy v. State
704 S.E.2d 808 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
532 S.E.2d 78, 272 Ga. 691, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 2237, 2000 Ga. LEXIS 492, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrow-v-state-ga-2000.