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By Kent Scheidegger et al.

Supreme Court to Review Cert. Petition on "Victim Impact Evidence": Over the weekend, Ben Winograd at SCOTUSblog put up this post on Kelly v. California (07-11073), a capital case the Supreme Court will examine during its opening conference at the end of September. The Petitioner, Douglas Oliver Kelly, has asked the Court to review whether the Constitution places limits on how victim impact evidence may be admitted during the penalty phase. In 1991, Payne v. Tennessee held that the Eighth Amendment did not bar the introduction of "victim impact evidence" at the penalty phase of trial. However, the Court did suggest evidence "so unduly prejudicial that it renders the trial fundamentally unfair" would not be admissible. In Kelly's case, he is contesting the introduction of nearly a twenty minute photo montage set to music, of his victim, a 19-year-old he stabbed 29 times with a pair of scissors...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on September 04, 2008 (boomark / email).