Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Sentencing Law and Policy

Criminal Law

: Sentencing Law and Policy

Early report on Bies oral argument

By Douglas A. Berman

As noted here, the Supreme Court this morning heard oral argument in Bobby v. Bies, one of the very few capital cases on the SCOTUS docket this term.  This early AP report suggests I was right to predict that the Justices are likely to give Ohio another bite at the death penalty apple in this case: The Supreme Court appears likely to give Ohio another chance to sentence a convicted killer to death, despite a previous finding that the man is mentally retarded. The high court heard oral arguments Monday in the case of Michael Bies, who was convicted of killing a 10-year-old boy in Cincinnati in 1992. Several of the court's liberal justices seemed to agree with the state's argument that Bies never received a proper hearing on his mental state because he was sentenced years before the high court barred the execution of the mentally disabled...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 27, 2009 (boomark / email).