Summary
U. S. Supreme Court decision utilizing CJLF arguments to reinstate the death sentence of a man who beat a Bakersfield woman to death in 1981. While California law requires a jury to find at least one special circumstance related to a murder to qualify the killer for a death sentence, the jury in this case found four. On appeal, the state Supreme Court ruled that two of the four special circumstances were invalid, but the death sentence was upheld. In 2004, the Ninth Circuit overturned the death sentence. Before the high court, CJLF argued that the sentence was proper because two special circumstances remained valid, and all of the facts considered by the jury were properly considered under unchallenged circumstances. The invalid circumstances were therefore redundant and made no difference in this case. The Court's decision incorporated this argument. [CJLF brief in PDF.]
