Merck Chief Executive Officer Kenneth C. Frazier (pictured) resigned from the president’s American Manufacturing Council on August 14, saying “[a]s CEO of Merck and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.” In a statement posted on Merck’s Twitter account, Frazier said: “Our country’s strength stems from its diversity and the contributions made by men and women of different faiths, races, sexual orientations and political beliefs. America’s leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal.” It was not the first time that Frazier, the only African-American CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, has spoken out on matters of social justice. Following his successful pro bono representation of James Willie “Bo” Cochran, a black, Alabama death-row prisoner wrongly convicted of the murder of a white grocery store manager, Frazier wrote that the case showed him that “there can be no fair and consistent application of the death penalty under the current system.” Frazier undertook Cochran’s representation while a partner at the Philadelphia law firm, Drinker, Biddle & Reath, and remained on the case after joining Merck. Cochran won a new trial after Frazier and his team showed that, in two prior trials, the prosecutor had systematically removed 31 of the 35 potential black jurors because he believed they were less “reliable” and more likely to acquit black defendants. Frazier initially doubted Cochran’s proclamation of innocence: witnesses inside the store described the suspect as a black man and, as police converged on the scene, heard a gunshot coming from a nearby trailer park, less than one mile from where Cochran was found with a gun and cash. But Frazier discovered during the post-conviction proceedings that there was no physical evidence against his client, the only bullet recovered near the scene did not match Cochran’s gun, and the fatal bullet could not be tested because police had cut it out of the victim’s body and removed it before delivering the body to the medical examiner. “He was convicted,” explains Frazier, “despite evidence suggesting an accidental police shooting and cover-up.” Even though the state only had circumstantial evidence against him, Cochran was tried three separate times for the killing (the first time, there was a mistrial, and the second time his conviction was reversed on appeal). “Although some maintain the criminal justice system is color-blind,” Frazier wrote, “the reality is that race plays a substantial role in the judicial process.” In Cochran’s retrial, a jury that Frazier says “was not selected primarily on the basis of race” acquitted him in less than an hour.
(M. Terrill, “Amid corporate career, Merck CEO exonerated man on death row,” CNBC, Aug. 14, 2017; M. Harper, “What You Should Know About Ken Frazier, The CEO Who Just Quit A Trump Advisory Council,” Forbes, Aug. 14, 2017; K. Frazier, “Dying for Representation: Promoting Justice Through Pro Bono Participation,” Univ. of Toledo Law Rev., Spring 2004.) See New Voices, Innocence, and Race.
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