In McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 292, 107 S. Ct. 1756, 95 L. Ed. 2d 262 (1987), the defendant argued that the death penalty was unconstitutionally imposed on black persons. In support of his argument the defendant proffered a study that contained significant detail and was well researched. The study was based on over 2,000 murder cases that occurred in Georgia during the 1970s and included data relating to the race of the victim and the defendant's race. The study indicated that black defendants who killed white victims had the greatest likelihood of receiving the death penalty. Id. at 286. The raw numbers collected in the study indicated that defendants charged with killing white persons received the death penalty in 11 percent of the cases, but defendants charged with killing blacks received the death penalty in only 1 percent of the cases. The raw numbers also indicated a reverse racial disparity according to the race of the defendant: 4 percent of the black defendants received the death penalty, as opposed to 7 percent of the white defendants. The study also divided the cases according to the combination of the race of the defendant and the race of the victim. It found that the death penalty was assessed in 22 percent of the cases involving black defendants and white victims; 8 percent of the cases involving white defendants and white victims; 1 percent of the cases involving black defendants and black victims; and 3 percent of the cases involving white defendants and black victims. Similarly, the study found that prosecutors sought the death penalty in 70 percent of the cases involving black defendants and white victims; 32 percent of the cases involving white defendants and white victims; 15 percent of the cases involving black defendants and black victims; and 19 percent of the cases involving white defendants and black victims. This data was subjected to an extensive analysis, taking account of 230 variables that could have explained the disparities on nonracial grounds. One of his models concludes that, even after taking account of 39 nonracial variables, defendants charged with killing white victims were 4.3 times as likely to receive a death sentence as defendants charged with killing blacks. According to this model, black defendants were 1.1 times as likely to receive a death sentence as other defendants. McCleskey, 481 U.S. at 286.