Summary
The United States Supreme Court affirmed a murderer's conviction. The defendant, drug dealer John Fry, was convicted on strong evidence of killing a Vacaville couple in 1992. On appeal, he claimed that his conviction was invalid because a witness who claimed that her cousin admitted to killing two people was not allowed to testify. The state court rejected the claim, finding that in light of the weakness of this evidence, excluding it was within the trial judge's discretion. The federal courts reviewed the claim on habeas corpus applying a standard of review announced by the Supreme Court's 1993 decision in Brecht v. Abrahamson (won by CJLF) and also concluded that the exclusion was error, but harmless. Before the Supreme Court, Fry argued that the Brecht standard is too difficult for him to meet and should not apply to his case. CJLF joined the case to argue for a decision reaffirming the existing standard. The Supreme Court, unanimous on this point, agreed. [CJLF brief in PDF.]
