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Lesser-included Instruction Should Have Been Given; State Capital Habeas Petitioner Gets Relief

By Shari Allison

Phillips v. Workman, 2010 WL 1882313 (10th Cir. 2010). Tenth Circuit grants habeas relief in Oklahoma capital case. Defendant was convicted of first-degree malice aforethought murder after he stabbed a teenager in a parking lot with a pocketknife for no apparent reason other than racial animosity, intoxication, and, possibly, mental illness. There was some question before trial about the defendant's competence. The defendant sought to present this evidence in support of an instruction on the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder. However, the Oklahoma state court refused to allow the defendant to present evidence of his emotional state and history of abuse by his father, agreeing with the state that it was mitigation evidence that could only be proffered at the sentencing phase, and refused an instruction on second-degree depraved mind murder...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on May 17, 2010 (boomark / email).