Jury selection in county isn't racist, high court rules

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In rejecting a death row inmate's bid for a new trial, the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday found no pattern showing that blacks historically have been excluded from Cape Girardeau County juries.

An all-white Cape Girardeau County jury convicted Earl Ringo Jr., who is black, of two counts of first-degree murder in June 1999 and recommended the death sentence for each charge.

The charges stemmed from a double slaying at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Columbia on Independence Day 1998.

In his appeal, Ringo, who turns 30 this month, argued his trial attorneys should have opposed drawing a jury from Cape Girardeau County to hear the case, alleging the county has a "history of under-representing African-Americans." As a result, he claimed his attorneys failed to secure his right to a fair, representative and impartial jury.

In a unanimous decision written by Chief Justice Ronnie L. White, the court's only black judge, the court said Ringo offered no evidence to support his contention.

Although blacks represented 4.5 percent of the county's population at the time, the pool of 163 potential jurors in Ringo's case included just four blacks, about 2.5 percent of the group.

The court said that even if blacks were underrepresented in this particular instance, that was insufficient to demonstrate a systematic pattern of exclusion.

Tuesday's ruling marked the second time in 20 months the high court has rejected challenges to the racial composition of Cape Girardeau County juries in death penalty cases.

Circuit Court Clerk Charles Hutson said he compiles lists of potential jurors in accordance with state law and has no advance indication of the race of those summoned for duty.

"We feel like we're doing our job the way we are supposed to be doing it," Hutson said.

Ringo also claimed his trial attorneys failed to adequately investigate and present evidence of horrific childhood abuse that caused him to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. He maintained such mitigating evidence could have convinced the jury he lacked the capacity for "cool deliberation" necessary to prove first-degree murder.

The court noted Ringo's attorneys interviewed several expert witnesses who mentally evaluated Ringo. The decision not to have them testify was part of a legitimate legal strategy and didn't constitute incompetent lawyering, the court said.

Ringo fatally shot delivery driver Dennis Poyser, 45, while accomplice Quinton Jones killed Ruby Tuesday manager Joanna Baysinger, 22, during the course of a robbery. Ringo was a former cook at the restaurant.

Jones, who said he shot Baysinger at Ringo's urging, was sentenced life imprisonment without possibility of parole for his role.

The case is Earl Ringo Jr. v. State of Missouri.

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