Summary
U.S. Supreme Court case reviewing the death sentence of a serial robber and double murderer. The case involves an issue of how a state court can repair a problem in a capital sentence that had been found by a narrowly divided federal court. After the Ninth Circuit held 6-5 that the state courts had not fully considered James McKinney's mitigating evidence when weighing it against the properly found aggravating factors, the Arizona Supreme Court reweighed the evidence itself and affirmed McKinney's death sentence. McKinney claims that once the proceedings were reopened his case was no longer "final," Supreme Court precedents established after his initial appeal now fully apply, and he is entitled to a full resentencing before a jury. CJLF argues that regardless of whether the new decisions apply, McKinney is not entitled to full resentencing. The new cases only entitle a defendant to have a jury make the finding of an aggravating circumstance needed to make him eligible for the death penalty. Other, long-established Supreme Court precedents which have not been overturned permit the Arizona Supreme Court to repair and reinstate a death sentence by reweighing in the manner that it did. The Supreme Court agreed and upheld the sentence.
