Summary
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit case involving hired hit man Jason Getsy. An Ohio jury found Getsy guilty of the contract killing of Ann Serafino, whose son had a business dispute with John Santine. Getsy was sentenced to death. A separate jury convicted Santine of murder, but Getsy's confession was not admissible in that trial, the jury did not find murder for hire had been proved, and Santine was not sentenced to death. A panel of the Sixth Circuit found that this difference in sentences required that Getsy's death sentence be overturned. CJLF submitted a brief arguing that no current rule of law authorizes a federal court to overturn a state sentence on this basis, and Congress has forbidden lower federal courts from making up new rules in such cases. The full Sixth Circuit agreed. [CJLF brief in PDF.]
