The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/courts/supreme-court/)
In capital cases from Alabama and Texas, justices issued a half-dozen opinions criticizing one another and revealing divisions within the conservative majority as well as between right and left.
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear cases involving a non-unanimous jury verdict in a Louisiana murder case and Kansas’ removal of the insanity defense for criminal defendants. The cases will be heard in the term beginning in October.
Next week, the justices will consider the appeal of Curtis Flowers, a black Mississippian who argues that prosecutors intentionally struck black potential jurors because of their race. Flowers has been tried six times for murder.
Despite public support for televising Supreme Court hearings, the ban will remain for the foreseeable future and the issue isn’t much of a topic of conversation in the court, Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan told a House appropriations subcommittee Thursday.
When Nick Acklin’s lawyer had to choose between a robust defense and his fee, he chose the latter. Now the Supreme Court is being asked to decide how much conflicts of interest matter in a death penalty case.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that defendants whose cases suffered because their lawyers performed poorly are entitled to the benefit of presumed prejudice even in cases where they waived their rights to appeal.
Attorneys for Domineque Ray, 42, had argued that Alabama’s execution policy favored Christian inmates because a chaplain is allowed in the room.
Purse snatching and pickpocketing can amount to violent felonies for purposes of the federal Armed Career Criminal Act, which requires mandatory 15-year sentences for people convicted of possessing firearms if they have been found guilty of three violent felonies or serious drug charges. The justices divided 5-4 on the issue.
The Supreme Court refused to consider whether juries should decide on whether defendants should be required to pay restitution. Three justices dissented.
A Colorado-based judicial council said it could not entertain complaints that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had made false statements during his confirmation hearings because the Senate had approved Kavanaugh. The council has no jurisdiction over the high court.