Summary
U. S. Supreme Court decision to require the resentencing of LaRoyce Smith for the 1991 murder of a Dallas Taco Bell shift manager during a robbery. At trial, the defense attorney asked the judge to declare the Texas death penalty unconstitutional based upon a recent Supreme Court decision striking down the state's sentencing jury instructions. The judge instead modified the jury instructions to accommodate a recent high court decision and asked the defense attorney if he wanted to suggest any improvements. The defense attorney did not and raised no objection to the new instructions. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals later ruled that the modified instructions complied with the recent decision. Later on habeas corpus, the same court denied Smith's claim that the instruction violated a subsequent high court decision on jury instructions. In 2004, the U. S. Supreme Court reversed the Texas court decision and sent the case back for further review of Smith's claim. A year later, the Texas court ruled that the disputed instruction did not require overturning his death sentence. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear Smith's challenge to that ruling, CJLF joined the case to argue that the standard for review of trial errors not objected to by the defense has been historically left up to the state courts. The Court's 5 to 4 ruling held that the instruction given in this case did not satisfy its requirements and that the defense lawyer's initial objection was sufficient to preserve the issue. [CJLF brief in PDF.]
