United States v. Bass

Background

A Black man was indicted in federal court for the intentional shootings of two people and the Government filed a notice saying it would seek the death penalty. He argued the decision to seek death was based on his race and asked the court either to throw out the death notice or to allow discovery into how prosecutors decide to seek death. The trial court ordered discovery, the Government refused to comply, and the court dismissed the death penalty notice; an appeals panel later upheld the discovery order.

Reasoning

The Court considered whether the defendant had shown enough to justify probing prosecutors’ charging choices. It relied on an earlier decision saying a defendant must show both discriminatory effect and intent, and must make a credible showing that people in the same situation but of a different race were treated differently. The appeals court had pointed to nationwide statistics showing higher rates of death-eligible charges for Black people and different plea-bargain patterns. The Court said those raw national numbers do not prove that similarly situated people were treated differently in this case, and plea-bargain numbers were especially unhelpful because the defendant had rejected an offer. Because the defendant did not show the required evidence, he was not entitled to discovery, and the appeals court’s decision was reversed.

Real world impact

The ruling makes it harder for criminal defendants to obtain broad, nationwide statistical discovery to support claims that race drove death-penalty charging. It affirms executive control over capital charging decisions and notes the Justice Department’s protocol requiring review of capital cases by higher officials. This decision resolves only the discovery dispute, not the underlying guilt or sentencing issues.