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Porter v. McCollum

By Steve Hall

"Post-combat stress as a defense," is the title of Lyle Denniston's SCOTUS Blog post.The Supreme Court, in a sign of the times for a nation at war on two fronts, on Monday put defense lawyers on notice that they should be prepared to use evidence of ?post-traumatic stress disorder? to try to save accused veterans from the death penalty.  Ruling without full briefing or a hearing, and with no dissent noted, the Court apparently overturned the death sentence of a Florida veteran whose ?combat service unfortunately left him a traumatized, changed man,? as the Court put it in Porter v. McCollum (08-10537), involving Korean war veteran George Porter, Jr.  The unsigned opinion can be found here.?Our Nation has a long tradition of according leniency to veterans in recognition of their service, especially for those who fought on the front lines as Porter did,? the opinion said...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on December 01, 2009 (boomark / email).