[update] First sunny non-cold set of days in weeks, a little too much frolic, a little too little writing;  the weekly will (hopefully) run tomorrow. After the jump, a sketch of this week’s edition:

In 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 avialable 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].  “Are you willing to have your brother, your father, your mother be the sacrificial lamb, to be the innocent person executed so that we can have a death penalty so that we can execute those who are deserving of the death penalty?”  “

In Louisiana, an Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judge  granted a new trial for Michael Anderson finding  prosecutors witheld 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’Ambrosiofor the murder of Tony Klann over 22 years ago.” ABCNews is questioning whether bad autopsies are leading to wrongful convictions in Tennessee.

In favor of the condemned

Phillip Anthony Summers v. State,   2010 OK CR 5; 2010 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 5 ( Okla. Crim. App.2/25/2010) (dissent)  “This Court finds that Summers’ 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 of Johnson.  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.”

Larry Wooten v. Thaler,  2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 4298 (5th Cir 3/2/2010) “The court of appeals affirmed the denial of the petition, holding that 1) when the actual physical evidence is in full view, there is no constitutional demand that the prosecution warrant any analyses of that evidence as final — as the best and last attempts; and 2) there was no loss of effectiveness under the Sixth Amendment as the strength of the state’s case grew, just a lessening of the defendant’s chance to prevail.” [via FindLaw]

Ronald Smith v. Mahoney, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 4704 (9th Cir 3/5/2010) (dissent)”The petitioner has been on death row since 1984 for a double murder. He turned down a plea agreement that would have resulted in a 17-year actual sentence, and instead chose to plead guilty and ask for death. He received a death sentence, but then reconsidered. He argued that he had ineffective counsel, and that his mental state at the time, deep depression, rendered his decision questionable. Over the years, he had resentencings. The 9th considers both his IAC claim and his challenge to the sentence. The 9th finds clearly that his counsel had been ineffective in advising him as to defenses, whether to go to trial, investigation, and mitigation. And yet, the 9th finds that it was without prejudice! As to the sentencing claims, the 9th denied the claim that the sentencing judge failed to consider mitigating evidence of proportionality, bias of the sentencing judge, and a Lackey claim asserting that length of incarceration violated the 8th amendment. The majority did end by praising petitioner’s rehabilitation and change of life, but said that it was for clemency. In dissent, B. Fletcher argues that there was prejudice in the ineffectiveness, and that it permeated every aspect of the case up to and including the guilty plea and request for death. Fletcher also makes the case that a Lachey claim was viable here.” [via Ninth Circuit  blog] Shaun Martin has more.

State v. Ryan Wesley  Kuhs,  2010 Ariz. LEXIS 13; 576 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 13 (Az 2/24/2010)

People v. Jeffrey Jon Mills,  2010 Cal. LEXIS 1805 (Cal 3/1/2010) “Conviction and death sentence imposed on defendant for first-degree murder and sex crimes are affirmed where: 1) defendant’s pretrial issues are rejected as meritless; 2) there is nothing in the record to suggest that the trial court lacked impartiality when it conducted voir dire; 3) defendant’s various claims regarding trial issues are rejected; and 4) defendant’s claims of error during the penalty phase are rejected.” [via FindLaw]

Darryl Scott Stinski v. State,  2010 Ga. LEXIS 186 (GA 3/1/2010) Capital sentence undisturbed, arson sentence vacated as the evidence showed that only one continuous act of setting multiple fires in the same house. [more next week]

Kendrick Antonio Simpson v. State, 2010 OK CR 6( Okla. Crim. App3/5/2010) [more next week]

Johnson v. US, No. 08–6925 (3/2/2019) “A circuit court’s judgment upholding a sentence for possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, which was enhanced under the Armed Career Criminal Act, is reversed where the Florida felony offense of battery by actually and intentionally touching another person does not have as an element the use of physical force against the person of another, and thus does not constitute a violent felony under 18 U.S.C. section 924(e)(1).” [via  Findlaw]