Intimidation and racism
By Brandon Astor Jones
At 10.10pm on March 31, William Henry Hance was pronounced dead, his scorched corpse still strapped to Georgia's electric chair. Hance was more than a little mentally impaired. Georgia law prohibits such executions, but states can do whatever they want and get away with it — especially if they are dealing with poor people or people of colour. Hance was both: poor and African-American.
This column is about another African-American; her name is Gayle Daniels. Today, Daniels is a travel agent, but 16 years ago she was the only person of colour on Hance's jury. Her presence on that jury was (and continues to be even to this day) a rarity for people of colour in America's south, especially on capital juries. The prosecutor at Hance's trial struck six other African-Americans from the jury pool before Daniels was allowed to sit on his jury.
Prosecutors do not like people of colour on juries because we tend to be more objective rather than emotively subjective regarding the testimony of so-called expert witnesses such as police officers and other state officials.
Recently, it was learned that two members of Hance's jury were vociferously against the imposition of the death penalty: Gayle Daniels and Patricia Le May. Le May gave in after a while. Daniels held out nearly to the end (she gave in only because she thought the sentence would never be carried out — there were lots of people on death row, but very few were being executed).
During deliberation, certain men on the jury made insulting remarks to the women about their reluctance to give a clearly mentally impaired man a death sentence. One of those men even went so far to say, "It will just be one less n . . . r on the street".
Patricia Le May said that "One by one, the jurors began to vote for death until only myself and a young black woman, Gayle, were holding out for life. I finally gave in ... Gayle continued to hold out. She refused to take part in the vote for death." In Georgia, the jury's vote for a death sentence must be unanimous.
In the interest of justice, all deliberations in jury chambers ought to be audio recorded, so that racist decisions can be exposed along with the diabolical racists who intimidate the other jurors. If that is not done, juries deciding the fate of a person of colour tend to be little more than lynch mobs.
The world needs to recognise and respect the uncommon courage demonstrated by Gayle Daniels in going to the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board in her efforts to save Hance's life. She even visited him once in prison. Referring to the bloodthirsty executioners here at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classifications Centre, Daniels told that board during Hance's clemency hearing, "If they execute him now, they will be punishing me for what I did that day ... more than punishing him for what he did".
Over the years, Daniels has learned not to be intimated by racism or racists. In Georgia, political feelings surrounding the death penalty are so strong that in some cases those who stand up against it can lose their jobs, be denied loans at banks or be ostracised; there are a whole host of other regional sanctions that most people cannot begin to comprehend. So while Gayle Daniels is not loved by a lot of people in Georgia, I have no doubt history will treat her admirably for her courage and convictions.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]