The weekly edition is now available. From the intro:

Leading off this edition is the stunning opinion from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Ex parte Charles Hood. The Hood Court appears to go out of its way to grant relief on a Penry claim that potentially had substantial procedural problems, and likewise went out of its not to mention the affair between trial court judge and prosecutor. Specifically, a sharply divided plurality grants relief as the jury instructions limited the ability of the jurors to fully consider in mitigation issues like the condemned’s learning disabilities, being hit over the head with a pipe for discipline, and had a that he had a truck back over him as toddler causing developmental issues and breaking his legs.

A split Ninth Circuit panel in Fred Lawrence Robinson v. Schriro granted sentencing relief on two claims. The Ninth Circuit Blog notes that the Robinson panel “concluded that the aggravator of cruel, heinous, and depraved was arbitrarily found here because no evidence was presented that the petitioner was in the house when the murders took place; nor that he had ordered the murders; nor that he even could have foreseen the murders.” The panel also granted relief on ineffective assistance of counsel claims “where counsel failed to investigate petitioner’s background, childhood, mental and emotional abuse, his low IQ, his mental condition, nonviolent nature, and his potential for rehabilitation.”

Closing out the favorable decisions is Alwin C. Tumblin v. State from the Florida Supreme Court. At trial the State was permitted to introduce a witness’s prior consistent statement through the testimony of a police officer. That officer also essentially vouched for the State’s witness’s credibility. The witness was critical to the State’s obtaining a guilty verdict against Mr. Tumblin. The trial court subsequently struck the testimony and gave a curative instructive. The vouching, however, went too far and the conviction must be vacated.

The Death Penalty Information Center collects relevant death penalty articles that have appeared in print and on media Web sites in 2009 here. A high profile Philadelphia death penalty case (two dead retired cops) resulted in a life sentence and the jury foreman has gone public with the rationale behind the verdict. Over 1,000 human rights activists from over 100 countries recently gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, for the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty.

Note that last week’s edition was mistagged with the week of the 15th available here and the 22nd here.

Lastly, in a prior edition I mentioned I was likely to be on trial until Easter. Fortunately the State, after my client spent 4+ years incarcerated, dismissed all charges. Put another way, here and over at the daily blog, the pace should pick up for the coming weeks As always, thanks for reading. -k