Terry Lyn Short is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on June 17 in Oklahoma. He was con­vict­ed of caus­ing a fire that killed Ken Yamamoto in 1995. A key wit­ness against Short at tri­al was a jail­house infor­mant who tes­ti­fied in return for lenien­cy on charges that he was fac­ing. Defense coun­sel at tri­al sought to present tes­ti­mo­ny of a third inmate in the same cell who was pre­pared to refute every­thing that the jail­house infor­mant had said. However, the tri­al judge refused to let this wit­ness tes­ti­fy, and his sto­ry was nev­er heard. The tri­al judge ruled that the defense had not pre­sent­ed this rebut­tal wit­ness suf­fi­cient­ly ahead of time to be heard. When this issue was reviewed in fed­er­al court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit stat­ed that the exclu­sion of the wit­ness ​“deprived the jury of rel­e­vant evi­dence,” but upheld the tri­al judge’s rul­ing, say­ing, ​“the Constitution enti­tles a crim­i­nal defen­dant to a fair tri­al, not a per­fect one,” and that the appeals court was required to be ​“def­er­en­tial” to state court deci­sions.

Short was accused of start­ing the fire by throw­ing a fire­bomb through the patio of an apart­ment below the vic­tim where Short’s ex-girl­friend lived. Expert tes­ti­mo­ny from the defense con­tra­dict­ed the state’s evi­dence and main­tained that the fire scene was not con­sis­tent with a fire­bomb spark­ing the fire.
(​“Urgent Action Appeal,” Amnesty International, May 23, 2008). See gen­er­al­ly Innocence regard­ing the pos­si­ble impli­ca­tions of an unfair tri­al.
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