Georgia Must Test the DNA Evidence in Imminent Scheduled Execution
In just two days, on Wednesday, November 13th, Georgia state officials have scheduled an execution despite the fact that they have no idea who actually committed the crime that triggered the death sentence.
The state plans to kill Ray “Jeff” Jefferson Cromartie despite the fact that he has never wavered in maintaining his innocence of the crime for which he was sentenced to death; despite the fact that no court has heard new evidence of his innocence; despite the fact that the state refuses to test the extensive available evidence that could prove his innocence through DNA testing; despite the victims’ daughter repeatedly pleading for the state to test the DNA; despite his co-defendant’s brand new affidavit that Mr. Cromartie didn’t pull the trigger. (Mr. Cromartie’s execution had initially been set for October 30th, though it was temporarily stayed by the Georgia Supreme Court on a technical issue.)
Mr. Cromartie was convicted and sentenced to death in 1997 for the 1994 shooting death of convenience store clerk Richard Slysz in tragic fatal shooting that occurred during a botched robbery. Mr. Cromartie has never wavered in maintaining he did not short Mr. Slysz — even turning down a deal that would have seen him become parole eligible after 7 years if he pled guilty. The state didn’t test any of the evidence before Mr. Cromartie’s 1997 trial, and today – decades later – they are continuing to spend Georgia taxpayer dollars litigating in order to avoid having to turn over the DNA so that Mr. Cromartie’s attorneys can have it tested.
Late last Friday, attorneys for Mr. Cromartie filed a new motion presenting new, reliable evidence of Mr. Cromartie’s innocence. The new filing contains an affidavit from Mr. Cromartie’s co-defendant and half-brother, Thaddeus Lucas, giving never-before-heard evidence that he heard another man, Corey Clarke, admit to being the actual shooter who killed Mr. Slysz during the crime. The State’s reliance on Mr. Clarke’s testimony is unsurprising – they had a weak case against Mr. Cromartie overall. No physical evidence shows that Mr. Cromartie shot the victim, or even touched the gun. Mr. Clarke had a clear motive to lie to investigators: in order to convince them that he was not the shooter, he had to convince them that Mr. Cromartie was. Mr. Clarke was paroled in 2005, and remains free today.
The new disclosure of a confession from Mr. Clarke is an extraordinary development. We at the Southern Center oppose all executions, but it would a horrific miscarriage of justice to execute Mr. Cromartie without full consideration of all the facts in his case, including the new evidence of his innocence.
Legal advocates, members of the Thomas County community, and even the victim’s daughter have pleaded with the state to test the DNA before any execution is carried out. “DNA testing will provide a reliable answer to the question of whether Mr. Cromartie was the shooter in Mr. Slysz’s tragic death,” Mr. Cromartie’s attorney Shawn Nolan said in a statement. Richard Slysz’s daughter, Elizabeth Legette, has implored both the Attorney General’s Office and the Georgia Board of Pardons & Parole to conduct the DNA testing before executing a potentially innocent man in the name of “justice” for her father. In a letter sent to the Georgia Supreme Court in October, Ms. Legette writes:
“I am writing to urge you to require DNA testing of the evidence in the case of Ray Cromartie, currently a death row inmate in Georgia. My father, Richard Slysz, was the victim in Mr. Cromartie’s case, and I consider myself a victim under Georgia’s victims’ rights statute and Constitution.
I have read a lot about the case and I believe that there are serious questions about what actually happened the night my father was murdered and whether Ray Cromartie actually killed him. This past summer, I contacted the prosecutors in the case and told them that I wanted DNA testing conducted…They never responded to me, but I understand that they opposed the testing. I still want DNA testing to occur. Today I learned that the State has set a date to execute Mr. Cromartie without doing any testing. This is wrong, and I hope that you will take action to make sure that the testing happens.”
There is extensive, intact evidence – ready to be tested – that the State argued was worn by or handled by the shooter. Why won’t Georgia agree to use modern DNA testing, not available at the time of the crime and trial, to find out who the shooter was? It is the only way to avoid executing a potentially innocent man.