JANET MAYBIN, a British correspondent of Green Left Weekly columnist Brandon Astor Jones, attended his resentencing trial in Cobb County, Georgia, September 8-23. Printed here is her account of the trial.
Each day we sat through the court proceedings and each evening we went to the jail to visit Brandon. Tony Axam led the defence case, and Ray Gary supported him.
Brandon was trying to be as positive as possible throughout an extremely stressful and emotional time. He said he was helped enormously during the trial by support from the people who wrote to him, and who wrote on his behalf to [Cobb Country district attorney] Tom Charron. Brandon asked us to send everyone who supported him his heartfelt thanks.
The trial included a week of jury selection. Twelve jurors and two reserves were chosen. People who were against the death penalty were rejected, as were those who would prescribe it too readily. In addition, the prosecution could "strike" 10 potential jurors and the defence could strike 20.
They finally agreed on a jury consisting of seven women and five men, and including three African-Americans. Their ages seemed to range from 30 to 60. Jury selection is open to the public, and Reverend Cottonreader attended every day to support Brandon. The victim's 25-year-old daughter, Katie Tackett, also attended.
The trial itself started on September 16. The jury was told by the judge that the "guilt-innocence" phase had already been settled eighteen years ago, and that the present trial was to decide whether Brandon should be sentenced to death or to life imprisonment. They should listen to the witnesses and consider their credibility, rather than be swayed by the lawyers' arguments.
Russ Parker gave the opening argument for the prosecution. He stressed that the victim, 34-year-old Roger Tackett, had been a good citizen. The prosecution argued that Brandon was responsible as well as his original co-defendant, Van Solomon, for the murder, and that the crime had been cold-blooded and brutal. (Van Solomon was executed in 1985, but the jury was not told anything about his trial or verdict.)
The prosecution gave its case over the following two days.
Although Tackett had five wounds (two in his leg, two in his head and one in his thumb), only four shots had been heard and four bullets had been found. The prosecution argued that the thumb had been shot at separately, and thus claimed that Tackett had been tortured. They suggested that the fifth bullet had been fired first and lost.
An additional police witness (for the prosecution) testified to arresting Brandon in June 1978, for stealing a watch and a ring from another man on a train. (This was Brandon's only other conviction.)
Finally, we heard victim impact statements from Mrs Tackett and her daughter, a civil lawyer. The daughter was particularly bitter and made it clear she would get no peace of mind, or be able to lead a normal life, until Brandon was executed.
Axam cross-examined each of the prosecution witnesses, demonstrating that the evidence for the fifth shot was very dubious. It was Brandon who told the police that Tackett had been shot and needed help, and witnesses said Brandon seemed to be frightened of Van Solomon.
Axam in his opening argument said that Brandon had not been a "good citizen', but that he was not Tackett's killer, and that after 18 years in prison he had turned his life around and was now making a valuable contribution to other people's lives. There would be "no nobility" in sentencing him to death.
Axam presented a witness to the 1978 train robbery who said it was the other man who accosted Brandon, and there had been no robbery. A medical expert for the defence testified that the thumb wound had probably occurred when Tackett held his hand to his face (i.e. it was not a separate "torture" wound).
Then Brandon's four adult children and Reverend Cottonreader all asked for his life to be spared. Five of his pen friends gave character witness statements about how much he contributes to the lives of people in various parts of the world through his letters and articles: Del Cassidy from New Jersey; Carl Stencil from California; Diane Post from Vermont; Glenys Alderton from Sydney; and myself from Britain. We spoke of how Brandon had affected our lives and how much we valued him as a human being.
In his cross-examination, Tom Cole for the prosecution tried to stress that Brandon's pen friends were "liberal", anti-death penalty and didn't really know him, and to show that we had given Brandon money.
On September 20, we heard the closing arguments.
Parker argued that the evidence showed that Brandon was directly involved in the murder, and that this had included torture. Brandon was now someone who would write to "anyone and everyone on the Internet", had shown no remorse, and if he were ever freed he would kill again. A death sentence was justice for the people of Georgia.
Axam argued that for the jury to sentence Brandon to death, they would have to believe he was "pure evil". The evidence did not prove that Brandon was the killer, and there was plenty of evidence to suggest that Van Solomon was the main instigator of the crime. Brandon was now a changed man, and Tony begged for his life on the basis of the person Brandon had become.
In order to sentence Brandon to death, the jury had to find one or more aggravating circumstances, beyond a reasonable doubt. Aggravating circumstances are that the murder was committed alongside another capital offense (like armed robbery), committed during a burglary, or that it involved aggravated battery, torture or depravity of mind.
The jury could find aggravating circumstances, and still pass a life sentence, if they wanted to. The jury should also consider mitigating circumstances.
The jury was instructed that they had to reach a unanimous verdict. They were not told that if they failed to reach a verdict, Brandon would get a life sentence, and it is impossible to know if any of them were aware of this.
The jury sent two questions to the judge which he declined to answer. The first question was: If person A intends person B to murder someone, is person A responsible? The second question was: Does a life sentence mean he gets parole?
After three days, the jury informed the judge that they were deadlocked, because one member was holding out for a life sentence. The judge instructed them to keep trying to reach a unanimous verdict. Two hours later they returned with a death sentence.
It was very difficult to listen to the prosecution's final argument, knowing that Brandon has felt extreme remorse for his part in the robbery, but that he has always been told by lawyers not to contact the victim's family because this would be used by the prosecution as admission of guilt.
I was struck by the way that people in Cobb County are bombarded through the media with continuous reports of violent crime, which creates a siege mentality, and little chance of mercy towards people who are convicted.
It was clear also that the victim's family believe they cannot not rest until both men involved in the robbery have been executed; the system ensures years of anguish for them as well, and the dubious promise of eventual relief after more than 20 years, through another person's execution.
Brandon is now back on death row at Jackson, and the court will appoint a lawyer to lodge the normal series of appeals against the sentence.
In spite of the outcome, those of us who attended the trial felt that Brandon's international support had made an impression, that many people within the US legal system have their own misgivings about the death penalty, and that it is extremely important to keep up the pressure on the authorities there, for Brandon's sake, and for all those caught up in this inhumane system.
Please continue your support of Brandon. His address is: Mr Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-57, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233-7800 USA.