USA - South Carolina. Federal Judge Richard Gergel Overturns Death Sentence Because of Prosecutor's Racist Arguments.

Federal Judge Richard Gergel Overturns Death Sentence Because of Prosecutor's Racist Arguments. The district court has vacated the death sentence imposed on Johnny Bennett, a black man convicted of murdering another black man condemned by an all-white jury after prosecutor Donald Myers (White) had "made multiple statements clearly calculated to excite the jury with racial imagery and stereotypes." Myers' misconduct included eliciting irrelevant evidence that Bennett had an interracial sexual relationship with a white woman and that a white witness whom Bennett had assaulted when he was a juvenile had dreamt of "being chased by black savages." During closing argument, Myers also called Bennett - who was 6'7" and 300 pounds - "King Kong," a "monster," a "beast of burden," and a "caveman." Judge Gergel, who is White and was appointed by President Obama, wrote that comparing Bennett to King Kong reflected America's "long and ugly history of depicting African-Americans as monkeys and apes" and characterized Myers' racially-charged statements as "a not so subtle dog whistle on race that this court cannot and will not ignore." Bennett was first sentenced to death in 1995. That conviction was overturned in 1997 when the lawyers learned that a juror had been seated in the capital trial even after he said he would “go with the majority of the jury” even if he had doubts “as to whether the defendant should get the death penalty.” Bennett then was re-sentenced to death in 2000 by an all-white jury in Lexington County.