Supreme Court: Oral Arguments Today
Via Mark Godsey at Crim Prof Blog: The Supreme Court will hear oral argument today in two cases, including one which will determine whether a death penalty jury must be advised that if it rejects death, the defendant will receive life without parole.
Rompilla v. Beard, 04-5462, questions presented: (1) Does Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U.S. 154 (1994) require a life-without-parole jury instruction where the only alternative to a death sentence under state law is life without the possibility of parole? (2) Has a defendant received unconsitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel at a capital sentencing hearing where counsel does not review the defendant's prior conviction record which would provide mitigating evidence regarding the defendant's traumatic childhood and mental health impairments? More details here.
This is a big deal because jurors may be afraid to vote for life thinking that someday the defendant will be released on parole and able to commit another crime. If the jury was told that the defendant will never leave jail, except in a pine box, they might be more apt to render a life verdict instead of a death verdict.
What we need is to move towards a system where we life-qualify jurors instead of death-qualify them. Every juror should be required to state that they could return a life verdict, no matter how heinous the crime, before being allowed to sit in a capital case.
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