This week’s edition is here. From the intro.
Missed last week, but leading off this edition, is Phillip Anthony Summers v. State from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. The issue in Summers on appeal revolves around the trial court’s exclusion of the testimony by a witness that he ordered the murders for which Mr. Summers was convicted, at least one of the killers told him the details of the murders after it happened, and that the persons who did the hit did not include Appellant. Holding that the “right to a fair trial and to the opportunity to present a complete defense was unconstitutionally violated by the trial court’s wholesale exclusion of the testimony” a divided Court holds that the trial court erred in excluding the testimony. “Furthermore, given the highly contested nature of the evidence presented and the limitations of the State’s evidence—in particular, no forensic evidence linking Phillip Summers to either the crime scene or the murder weapons—this Court cannot conclude that this constitutional violation was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the execution of David Johnston so a hearing can be held to determine whether he’s mentally retarded. The justices issued the 5-2 decision just hours after hearing oral argument. The opinion is not yet availableIn the news, the next possible wave of challenges to lethal injection, Ringo v. Lombardi, Case No. 09-4095-CV-C-NKL, a federal district court judge in the Western District of Missouri on Tuesday denied a motion to dismiss in a challenge to that state’s lethal injection statute. The suit uses a new avenue to challenge lethal injection, “a declaratory judgment that Missouri’s lethal injection protocol violates the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. §§ 801, et seq. (“FDCA”), as well as the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §§ 301, et seq. (“CSA”).” Mark this one as one to watch.
Last week State District Judge Kevin Fine found the Texas death penalty scheme unconstitutional. Mark Bennett, Defending People, has made available materials relating to that order. “The original motion that Judge Fine signed is here. On Friday, Judge Fine had a discussion with the prosecutor and defense attorneys in the Green case, clarifying his order. The first part of the transcript is here; the second part, here.” [h/t Stand Down]. Tuesday the judge reversed himself, although the order, at time the send button was hit, could not be located.
In Louisiana, an Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judge granted a new trial for Michael Anderson finding prosecutors withheld a two-hour videotaped interview with the sole eyewitness to the crime. Washington state recently changed its execution method to a single drug lethla injection. DPIC notes that “on March 3, a federal District Court barred the re-prosecution of former Ohio death row inmate Joe D’Ambrosio for the murder of Tony Klann over 22 years ago.” ABCNews is questioning whether bad autopsies are leading to wrongful convictions in Tennessee.
As always, thanks for reading. -k