Defense: Study suggests racial bias in Ark. case (UALR Public Radio) - A University of Iowa law professor who conducted a study on behalf of convicted killer Frank Williams Jr. says the research suggests a greater chance that racial discrimination factored into Williams' case.

David Baldus says he examined 124 murder cases from 1990 to 2005 in the judicial district where Williams received the death penalty.

Shannon Tuckett, the managing public defender for Miller and Lafayette counties, said she hasn't seen any evidence of bias by Haltom or his deputy prosecutors.

The study says blacks were defendants in 38 of those cases, but accounted for nine of the 10 defendants for whom prosecutors sought a death sentence. Similarly, whites were victims in 35 of 65 death cases, yet accounted for seven of the 10 cases in which the death penalty was sought. Baldus says no white defendants accused of killing a black person received death sentences.

The researchers concluded that black defendants who killed whites had a significantly greater risk of being sentenced to death in Lafayette or Miller counties.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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