WASHINGTON — A closely divided Supreme Court has given hope to a Georgia death row inmate, ordering a federal appeals court to take a new look at his case because of raunchy gifts that jurors sent the judge and a courtroom bailiff.
Marcus Wellons was convicted of raping and strangling 15-year-old India Roberts in suburban Atlanta in 1989.
Today, the court split 5-4, with Justice Anthony Kennedy joining his four more liberal colleagues in setting aside an appeals court ruling that upheld Wellons’ death sentence.
At issue is whether Wellons received a fair trial in light of disclosures that, after the penalty phase, the jurors sent chocolate in the shape of a penis to the judge and chocolate in the shape of a pair of breasts to the bailiff. There also is a question about whether the judge and the jurors had inappropriate communications during the trial, including an encounter at a restaurant.
“The disturbing facts of this case raise serious questions concerning the conduct of the trial,” the court said in its unsigned opinion.
The court said, “Neither Wellons nor any court has ascertained exactly what went on at this capital trial or what prompted such ‘gifts.’”
The case will be returned to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing mainly over the procedure the majority invoked to deal with the case.
Alito, writing for himself and Roberts, said the federal judge already has considered the gifts and the restaurant encounter and concluded there was no evidence to substantiate a supposed inappropriate relationship between the judge and jury.
But Alito said he also was troubled by “the strange and tasteless gifts that were given to the trial judge and bailiff.”
The case is Wellons v. Hall, 09-5731.
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