Oral Arguments/ Supreme Court capital cases

The U.S. Supreme Court, Tuesday, heard arguments debating whether a trial judge’s decision to exclude witness testimony warrants overturning a defendant’s conviction which resulted in a life-term prison sentence. (Here)

John Francis Fry was convicted in 1995, after two previous trails ended in hung juries, of an execution-style murder of two people in Solano County, California, this, despite the discovery of a witness unknown at the two hearings that ended in mistrials. The trial judge at the third trial had not allowed Fry’s attorney to present that witness, even though she had presumably heard one of the parties accused confess to the actual killings. The California Court of Appeals and Supreme Court both affirmed the lower court’s decision, calling the failure to present the witness “harmless error.” Fry’s petition to the 9th. Circuit District Court was denied, and the Court of Appeals for that circuit in 2005 again affirmed the previous decisions. (See articles from Northwestern University and San Francisco Chronicle).

9th. Circuit Opinion before Court


Yesterday, the Court heard arguments addressing the issue of how far prosecutors can go in urging death penalties in the trial court. The question here is whether remarks to the jury by the prosecutor during the trial to the effect that they “should think beyond the current case and send a message to drug dealers,” swayed jurors to base their decision on “raw emotion rather than the facts of the case.” (Article)

A St. Louis circuit court found William Weaver guilty of first-degree murder with a death penalty recommendation in 1995. He pursued his post-conviction relief options up to the Missouri Supreme Court; each option there affirming the trial court’s conviction & sentence.

In federal court, Weaver filed a petition raising 21 claims for relief. The district court affirmed that Weaver’s rights had been violated by peremptory strikes during jury selection, which the State appealed. The 8th. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision & remanded the case with instructions to address the remaining issues raised by the defendant in 2001. This time, the district court vacated Weaver’s death sentence and ordered that he either be sentenced to life in prison or be granted a new penalty-phase trial; denying relief on the other claims, but granting a certificate of appealability on two claims relating to the prosecutor’s closing arguments.

8th. Circuit Opinion before Court