Federal Judiciary

Victims’ rights plea denied

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

The Supreme Court refused on Wednesday to delay a federal judge’s review of a plea bargain settling federal criminal charges growing out of an explosion at a Texas oil refinery in March 2005.  Lawyers for 12 victims of that explosion, who contend that the plea bargain is too lenient and that it was reached without input from victims, had asked the Court for a stay of a Fifth Circuit Court ruling that the victims plan to appeal to the Justices.

The Court’s order denying the stay in Dean, et al., v. U.S. District Court, et al. (application 08A3) can be found here.  A post on this blog on Monday describing the plea can be read here.

The application was filed with Justice Antonin Scalia as Circuit Justice, and he referred it to the full Court, which denied it without noting any dissent.  Justice Stephen G. Breyer took no part in the order.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on July 02, 2008 (boomark / email).