0812994523.pdf

who had been tried by all-white juries after prosecutors struck all of the African American
prospective jurors. Earl McGahee was tried by an all-white jury in Dallas County, even though
the county is 60 percent African American. In Albert Jefferson’s case, the prosecutor had
organized the list of prospective jurors summoned to court into four groups of roughly
twenty-five people each, identified as “strong,” “medium,” “weak,” and “black.” All twenty-
six black people in the jury pool could be found on the “black” list, and the prosecutors
excluded them all. Joe Duncan, Grady Bankhead, and Colon Guthrie were among some of the
white condemned prisoners who told a similar story.
District attorney Ted Pearson had to be concerned about the new Batson decision; he knew
veteran civil rights lawyers like Chestnut and Boynton would not hesitate to object to racially
discriminatory jury selection, even though he wasn’t too worried about Judge Robert E. Lee
Key taking those objections seriously. But the extraordinary publicity surrounding the
Morrison murder gave Pearson another idea.
In high-profile cases, it’s fairly standard for defense lawyers to file a motion to change
venue—to move the case from the county where the crime took place to a different county
where there is less pretrial publicity and sentiment to convict. The motions are almost never
granted, but every now and then an appellate court finds that the atmosphere in a county had
been so prejudicial that the trial should have been moved. In Alabama, asking to change
venue was an essentially futile act. Alabama courts had almost never reversed a conviction
because the trial judge had refused to change venue.
When the court scheduled a hearing in October 1987 on pretrial motions in Walter’s case,
Chestnut and Boynton showed up with no expectation that any of their motions would be
granted. They were more focused on preparing for trial, which was scheduled to begin in
February 1988. The pretrial motion hearing was a formality.
Chestnut and Boynton presented their change-of-venue motion. Pearson stood up and said
that due to the extraordinary pretrial coverage of the Morrison murder, he agreed that the
trial should be moved. Judge Key nodded sympathetically; Chestnut, who knew his way
around the Alabama courts, was sure something bad was about to happen. He was also
certain the judge and the DA had already conspired.
“The defendant’s motion to change venue is granted,” the judge ruled.
When the judge suggested that it be moved to a neighboring county so that witnesses
wouldn’t have far to travel, Chestnut remained hopeful. Almost all of the bordering counties
had fairly large African American populations: Wilcox County was 72 percent black; Conecuh
was 46 percent black; Clarke County was 45 percent black; Butler 42 percent; Escambia was
32 percent black. Only affluent Baldwin County to the south, with its beautiful Gulf of Mexico
beaches, was atypical, with an African American population of just 9 percent.
The judge took very little time deciding where the trial should be moved.
“We’ll go to Baldwin County.”
Chestnut and Boynton immediately complained, but the judge reminded them it was their
motion. When they sought to withdraw the motion, the judge said he couldn’t authorize a
trial in a community where so many people had formed opinions about the accused. The case
would be tried in Bay Minette, the seat of Baldwin County.
The change of venue was disastrous for Walter. Chestnut and Boynton knew there would be
very few, if any, black jurors. They also understood that while jurors from Baldwin County