Roosevelt Green, Jr. v. Walter D. Zant, Superintendent, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Center

In his petitions for state and federal habeas relief, the applicant Roosevelt Green, Jr., has unsuccessfully requested evidentiary hearings to substantiate his allegation that he received the death penalty pursuant to a pattern and practice of racial discrimination in the administration of Georgia's capital sentencing system. The Eleventh Circuit en banc is currently considering three cases that present the identical issue and turn on the identical statistical evidence. See, e.g., Ross v. Hopper, 716 F.2d 1528 (CA11 1983), rehearing en banc granted, 729 F.2d 1293 (CA11 1984); Spencer v. Zant, 715 F.2d 1562 (CA11 1983), reconsideration en banc stayed, 729 F.2d 1293 (1984); McCleskey v. Zant, 580 F. Supp. 338 (N.D.Ga.1984), hearing en banc granted, 729 F.2d 1293 (1984). As I argued last month in my dissent in Stephens v. Kemp, 469 U.S. 1043, 1058, 105 S. Ct. 530, 540, 83 L. Ed. 2d 417 (1984)—a case that also hinged on the claims and evidence instantly at issue—"there is at the very least a substantial question whether [the petitioner's] fate should be governed by the outcome of the consolidated cases that are now pending before the Eleventh Circuit en banc. . . ." Because "a person should not be executed while the constitutionality of his sentence is in doubt," Stephens v. Kemp, 469 U.S. 1098, 1099, 105 S. Ct. 609, 83 L. Ed. 2d 717 (1984) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting), I would accordingly stay Green's execution pending the ultimate resolution of Ross, Spencer, and McCleskey.