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News
Supreme Court News Resources
Supreme Court News Stories from 2006
- About
Broken Links
- Supreme Court Justices Raise Issue of
Time on Death Row
The U.S. Supreme Court
upheld California's death penalty law in
a 5-4 decision on Nov. 13 in Ayers v. Belmontes.
The majority held that the state's law
allowed the jury to consider all appropriate
mitigating evidence. ... The dissent argued
for a more appropriate balancing of state's
need for its law to be carried out with
the defendant's right to have all the evidence
that might save his life considered by
the jury. The dissent stated that the state's
need for an execution was greatly diminished
by the fact that this case was now 25 years
old, and, hence, the people would gain
little by having an execution carried out
now, whereas the defendant had everything
to lose by an unfair decision. (11/20/06, DPIC Update)
- Supreme
Court Takes Two More Cases on Texas'
Faulty Jury Instructions
The U.S.
Supreme Court agreed to hear two capital
cases from Texas in which the defendant
was sentenced to death after the jury
was given instructions that the Court
has since found unconstitutional. ...
The cases are Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman,
No. 05-11284, and Brewer v. Quarterman,
No. 05-11287, and they will be consolidated
into one hearing. One week ago, the Court
agreed to hear another capital case (Smith
v. Texas) involving Texas' jury instructions,
where a re-sentencing was denied by the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals despite
the fact that the Supreme Court had previously
found the prior sentence to be unconstitutional.
(10/23/06, DPIC Update)
- Supreme Court Denies Remedies Under International
Treaty
On June 28, 2006, the U.S. Supreme
Court decided two consolidated cases involving
the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
In both cases, the foreign nationals were
arrested but not informed by police officers
of their consular rights under the Convention
to ask that their respective consulates
be notified of their detention. The Court
concluded that statements made by foreign
nationals do not need to be suppressed,
even though the defendants were not informed
of their consular rights. The consolidated
cases were: Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon (No.
04-10566) and Bustillo v. Johnson.
(7/3/06, DPIC Update)
- Alito
and Court Uphold Kansas Death Penalty
WASHINGTON (AP) -- New Supreme Court
Justice Samuel Alito broke a tie Monday
in a ruling that affirmed a state death
penalty law and also revealed the court's
deep divisions over capital punishment.
Justices split 5-4 in the term's oldest
case, which was argued in December before
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement.
A new argument session was held in April
so that Alito could break a deadlock.
... The Kansas case was unique. The state
law says juries should impose death sentences
if aggravating evidence of a crime's
brutality and mitigating factors explaining
a defendant's actions are equal in weight.
Justice David H. Souter, writing for
the liberals, said the law was "morally
absurd." (6/26/06, CNN.com)
- Justices
Issue Two Key Death Penalty Rulings
WASHINGTON
(CNN) -- Two death row inmates won
separate victories in the Supreme Court
Monday -- one hoping to prove he did
not commit a 1985 Tennessee murder,
the other seeking to show that lethal
injection methods used in Florida are
cruel and unusual punishment. ... In
the first appeal, the court ruled 5-3
that Paul House deserves a new hearing.
The ruling allows House to move ahead
with his "actual innocence" claim.
... In the second ruling, the court unanimously
gave death row inmates another powerful
procedural tool to challenge execution
by a lethal "cocktail" of chemicals.
Clarence Hill, who murdered a police
officer, argued the drugs used could
fail, leaving him conscious but paralyzed
and unable to express his pain while
strapped on a gurney. (6/12/06, CNN.com)
- Justices Debate Whether Lethal Injection
Hurts
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court
expressed concern Wednesday that the chemical
cocktail used to execute Florida inmates
could cause "excruciating pain" in
violation of the Constitution's ban on
cruel and unusual punishment. The justices,
using a narrow legal argument about how
inmates can file last-minute appeals, delved
into the larger question of the execution
method used in all but one of the 38 states
with capital punishment. (4/26/06, CNN.com)
- Justices
Spar in Death Penalty Debate
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court used
a shocking decade-old Kansas murder Tuesday
to examine the factors juries must weigh
when deciding whether defendants deserve
the death penalty. (4/25/06, CNN.com)
- Human Rights Report Documents Lethal
Injection Problems
Although prisoners have for years
brought legal claims that lethal injections
were unconstitutionally cruel, courts have
until recently given short shrift to their
arguments. Troubled by new and powerful
evidence of possibly botched
executions,
federal courts in California and North
Carolina have this year refused to permit
scheduled executions to take place using
the standard lethal injection protocol.
On April 26, the U.S. Supreme Court will
hear oral arguments about the procedures
a prisoner must follow to challenge lethal
injections. (4/24/06, Human
Rights Watch)
- Justices
to Hear Lethal Injection Challenge
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hours after staying
the execution of an inmate who was already
strapped to a gurney, the Supreme Court
said Wednesday it would hear arguments
from the man who claims the drug cocktail
used in lethal injections can cause excruciating
pain. Lethal injections are used in most
states that have capital punishment,
and there's been a growing dispute over
the way they are carried out. (1/26/06,
CNN.com)
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