Alabama Appeals Court [an All White Bench] Reverses Lower Court Ruling and Restores Black Man’s Death Sentence in Case in which 10 of 12 Jurors Voted for Life

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals: Presiding Judge Mary B. Windom and Judges J. Elizabeth Kellum, J. Chris McCool, J. William Cole and Richard J. Minor.

From [HERE] The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) has reversed a lower court ruling and ordered the court to reinstate the death penalty against a Birmingham man whose trial judge had sentenced him to death even though the jury had voted 10-2 to recommend a life sentence.

With no judges dissenting, the appeals court on August 6, 2021 overturned a Jefferson County circuit court’s determination that Brandon Deon Mitchell should receive a new penalty phase hearing because of his trial counsel’s failure to present any mitigating evidence to the trial judge in final sentencing proceedings two months after the jury had overwhelmingly recommended that Mitchell receive a life sentence. The appeals court ruled that Alabama law at the time of the hearing in January 2007 did not permit counsel to present additional mitigating evidence to the judge and, given the jury’s 10-2 recommendation for life, there was no reasonable probability that additional evidence would have changed the outcome of the trial. 

Mitchell was sentenced to death by Judge William Cole, who now serves on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. In sentencing Mitchell to death, Cole said that the jury’s recommendation weighed heavily in Mitchell’s favor, but nevertheless concluded that “the jury really did not make the right decision.” He said he “hoped” that “the appellate courts will reweigh this decision” and said if the courts “do away with the override one day … , that won't hurt my feelings at all.” 

Alabama was the last U.S. state that allowed judges to override a jury’s recommendation for life, but in 2017 repealed the law that permitted the practice. Among his other claims, Mitchell challenged the constitutionality of judicial override and also argued that its repeal by the legislature should apply retroactively. Judge Cole recused himself from the case. The other four judges unanimously overturned the lower court’s grant of penalty-phase relief and upheld its ruling denying relief on the rest of Mitchell’s claims.