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Cal. Supreme Court Overturns Death Sentence

By Jeremy Price

In a rare capital habeas victory, the California Supreme Court unanimously reversed a jury's death sentence and ordered a new penalty hearing based on new evidence that a third party actually committed the murders in question. According to the Court, defense counsel provided constitutionally deficient representation by failing to investigate adequately available evidence of third party culpability. Reversal of the death sentence was required because there was a reasonable probability that the jury would not have imposed the death penalty had the evidence merely established that the defendant was a co-conspirator rather than the acutal killer. With that principle in mind, though, the Court declined to reverse the defendant's murder conviction because the evidence established that the defendant's participation in a conspiracy to commit murder rendered him liable for first degree murder irrespective of the possibility that a third party actually killed the victims...continue to full post

Full post as published by Criminal Appeal on July 31, 2007 (boomark / email).