Excerpts from arti­cles regard­ing the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals deci­sion in Summerlin v. Stewart

Following the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Summerlin v. Stewart on September 2, 2003, numerous press accounts reported on the effect of the decision holding Ring v. Arizona to be retroactive. Excerpts from a sample of those articles (some of which conflict with one another) follow:

ARTICLE EXCERPTS FROM SEPTEMBER 4, 2003

COLORADO: ​“Clarify death penal­ty” (source: Editorial, Denver Post)

“The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has over­turned the death sen­tences of more than 100 pris­on­ers in Arizona, Idaho and Montana, fur­ther com­pli­cat­ing the death-penalty debate. 

While the rul­ing will have no effect in Colorado, it pro­vides new impe­tus for the U.S. Supreme Court to clar­i­fy its 2002 Ring vs. Arizona rul­ing — which has now been inter­pret­ed in 3 dif­fer­ing ways by the 9^th, 6^th and 11^th circuits. 

The high court’s 7 – 2 deci­sion in Ring end­ed the prac­tice of hav­ing a judge, rather than a jury, decide whether there are ​“aggra­vat­ing fac­tors” in a case that can jus­ti­fy a death penal­ty. The court ruled that deter­min­ing such fac­tors is essen­tial­ly a find­ing of fact, a pow­er tra­di­tion­al­ly left to juries. 

Following that rul­ing, the Colorado Supreme Court last February reduced the death sen­tences of con­vict­ed mur­der­ers George Woldt and Francisco Martinez Jr. to life in prison with­out parole. Both had been tried under a Colorado law that let 3‑judge pan­els, not juries, impose death penalties. 

[…]

The best thing Colorado could do at this point is to elim­i­nate the death penal­ty. Failing that, let’s hope law­mak­ers at least resist future impuls­es to tin­ker with the jurispru­dence of death.”

MONTANA: ​“Death penal­ty should be applied con­sis­tent­ly” (source: Editorial, Great Falls Tribune)

“Lovers of jus­tice, regard­less of how they feel about the death penal­ty, should applaud a court rul­ing this week that rais­es the bar a notch on order­ing America’s harshest punishment. 

The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday set aside all pend­ing exe­cu­tions ordered by judges — as opposed to those ordered by juries — in order to be con­sis­tent with an ear­li­er Supreme Court ruling. 

The high court ruled last year that only a jury of a defen­dan­t’s peers can order the death penal­ty. However, the jus­tices stopped short of mak­ing the rul­ing retroac­tive, so the sta­tus of exist­ing inmates put on death row by judges was left up in the air. 

The 9^th Circuit appeals court stepped into the void Tuesday, rul­ing in an Arizona case that the Supreme Court stan­dard does apply retroac­tive­ly, at least in the Western states com­pris­ing that circuit. 

Of those states, only Arizona, Idaho and Montana allow judges to pro­nounce death sen­tences. As a result, Tuesday’s rul­ing appears to have nul­li­fied about 120 pend­ing exe­cu­tions — at least 100 in Arizona, 15 in Idaho and 5 in Montana. 

[…]

Nevertheless, the 2002 Supreme Court rul­ing aimed to take the death-penal­ty deci­sion out of the hands of indi­vid­ual judges, plac­ing it instead with the juries. 

That’s where the deci­sion should lie, and it should­n’t mat­ter whether a con­vic­tion occurred before or after the 2002 case.”

IDAHO: ​“Former Death Row Inmate Applauds Federal Court Death Penalty Ruling” (source: KCBI News)

“There are cur­rent­ly 21 active death row cas­es pend­ing in Idaho. 15 of them are now in the fed­er­al court sys­tem. 6 of them are still under state review. 5 of those 6 are on post-con­vic­tion appeal in state dis­trict courts or wait­ing to be heard by the Idaho Supreme Court. But the Idaho Attorney General’s office believes this 9^th cir­cuit court rul­ing will not stand because 3 oth­er U.S. cir­cuit courts dis­agree with it accord­ing to LaMont Anderson who heads the capi­tol lit­i­ga­tion divi­sion of the Idaho Attorney General’s office, ​“We have been informed that Arizona is going to file a peti­tion ask­ing the United State Supreme court to hear this case. We ful­ly believe the United State’s Supreme Court will hear this case because of the split in the circuits.”

NEVADA: ​“Juries and the death penal­ty — Nevada sure to be affect­ed by fed­er­al court cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment rul­ing” (source: Editorial, Las Vegas Review-Journal)

“Nevada’s unusu­al law that allowed judges to deter­mine the fate of cer­tain cap­i­tal offend­ers could lead to new sen­tenc­ing hear­ings for more than a dozen death row inmates in the Silver State. 

On Tuesday, the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out more than 100 death sen­tences in Arizona, Idaho and Montana because the con­demned inmates had been sen­tenced by judges. The rul­ing was in response to a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion which held that only juries had the pow­er to impose the death penalty. 

If the rul­ing stands — and it’s cer­tain to be appealed, giv­en that the Supreme Court left up in the air whether its deci­sion should be applied retroac­tive­ly — it’s hard to imag­ine the 15 Nevada inmates on death row who were sen­tenced by 3‑judge pan­els not at least receiv­ing new sentencing hearings. 

In fact, the state Supreme Court has already tossed out 1 such con­vic­tion in response to the 2002 high court decision. 

Nevada’s law — the only of its kind in the coun­try — gave 3‑judge pan­els the pow­er to impose death sen­tences if the defen­dant plead­ed guilty or a jury dead­locked. It was always con­tro­ver­sial — and right­ly so. If 12 indi­vid­ual jurors are unable to agree that soci­ety should impose the ulti­mate sanc­tion, a sen­tence of life with­out parole should be the default setting. 

Allowing a judge or three to make the deci­sion instead of a dozen jurors lessens the high bur­den the state should have to meet in order to car­ry out its most awesome power.”

IDAHO: ​“Lawmakers have chance to review death penal­ty” (source: Editorial, The Idaho Statesman)

“The path to Idaho’s death cham­ber has tak­en another twist. 

And that’s good. The state should use this oppor­tu­ni­ty to declare a death-penal­ty mora­to­ri­um. This form of jus­tice allows no mar­gin for error, yet Idaho has come close to mak­ing two mis­takes in recent years. 

On Tuesday, the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the death sen­tences for 15 con­vict­ed killers on Idaho’s death row should be void­ed. This would apply, retroac­tive­ly, a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion that says juries — and not judges — should deter­mine whether evi­dence sup­ports the death penalty.”

MONTANA: ​“McGrath says fed­er­al rul­ing won’t affect Montana’s death row inmates” (source: Associated Press)

“A fed­er­al appeals court rul­ing that could over­turn scores of death sen­tences in some west­ern states should have no effect on Montana’s 5 death-row inmates, Attorney General Mike McGrath said. 

He said Tuesday the Justice Department will argue that spe­cif­ic cir­cum­stances in each of the Montana cas­es insu­late them from the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision.”

ARTICLE EXCERPTS FROM SEPTEMBER 3, 2003

MONTANA: ​“West’s death sen­tences tossed” (source: Great Falls Tribune)

“[Attorney General] McGrath said Montana changed its death penal­ty laws this year to com­ply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 deci­sion, as applied to future cases. 

In Montana, a mur­der case must con­tain sev­er­al ​“aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stances” before a defen­dant can be con­sid­ered for the death penalty. 

Before this year, a state judge in Montana would decide whether any aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stances exist­ed in the case and then deter­mine the sentence. 

Now, the jury decides whether aggra­vat­ing circumstances exist.”

IDAHO: ​“15 Idaho inmates off Death Row — Appeals court gives pris­on­ers reprieve for now” (source for both: Idaho Statesman)

“The rul­ing could affect 15 peo­ple sen­tenced to die in Idaho — more than 100 in all 3 states — though per­haps not immediately. 

The Idaho Attorney General’s Office was still review­ing the fed­er­al appeals court’s 90-page rul­ing Tuesday and had no com­ment. Lawyers for the state of Arizona, the sub­ject of the fed­er­al appeals court rul­ing, promised to con­test the deci­sion and ask the nation’s top court to put the issue to rest. 

Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower, the last Idaho pros­e­cu­tor to win a death-row con­vic­tion, hopes the appeal takes place. The 9^th Circuit deci­sion puts in ques­tion the sen­tences of 6 death-row inmates from Ada County, includ­ing Darrell Payne, who was sen­tenced in May 2002 for the mur­der of Samantha Maher. 

[…]

In the fall, short­ly after the nation’s high­est court ruled, the Idaho Supreme Court over­turned the sen­tence of Donald Kenneth Fetterly say­ing Idaho’s death penal­ty law was­n’t valid. But only Fetterly’s case was affect­ed by the rul­ing. In July of this year, the state court ordered Faron Earl Lovelace resen­tenced because the death penal­ty was imposed on him under an unconstitutional system. 

While 2 oth­er fed­er­al cir­cuit courts have ruled the oppo­site, the judges of the 9^th Circuit said it is clear the U.S. Supreme Court´s rul­ing applies to all death row inmates. 

[…]

Cases under fed­er­al review affected

Of the 21 con­vict­ed killers on Idaho’s death row, state offi­cials say 15 of them had their death sen­tences over­turned Tuesday by the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The rul­ing imme­di­ate­ly affect­ed con­demned inmates with their cas­es under fed­er­al court review. 

Three oth­er Idaho death row inmates still have their cas­es in the state appel­late sys­tem. The final 3 mur­der­ers were once under death sen­tences but are await­ing resen­tenc­ing. Executions voided:

• David Leslie Card, 43, of Nampa. Convicted for the June 5, 1988, shoot­ing deaths of Eugene and Shirley Morey. 
• Thomas Eugene Creech, 52, of Ohio. Convicted killer, whose 1^st death sen­tence led to over­turn­ing Idaho´s orig­i­nal death penal­ty law in the mid-1970s, plead­ed guilty to the May 13, 1981, killing of a fel­low prison inmate. 
• Zane Jack Fields, 45, of Idaho Falls. Convicted of 1^st-degree mur­der for the Feb. 11, 1988, stab­bing death of Mary Catherine Vanderford. 
• James Harvey Hairston, 27, of Grand Junction, Colo. Convicted of 1^st-degree mur­der for the Jan. 6, 1996, shoot­ing deaths of William and Dalma Fuhriman. 
• Maxwell Alton Hoffman, 46, of Nampa. Convicted for the slay­ing of Denise Williams. 
• Mark Henry Lankford, 47, of Conroe, Texas. Convicted of the June 1983 beat­ing deaths of U.S. Marine Capt. Robert Bravence and his wife, Cheryl. 
• Richard Albert Leavitt, 44, of Blackfoot. Convicted for the July 18, 1984, death of Danette Jean Elg. 
• Randall Lynn McKinney, 41, of Tulare, Calif. Convicted in the April 1981 shoot­ing death of Robert Bishop Jr. 
• Gerald Ross Pizzuto, Jr., 47, of Orland, Calif. Convicted for the July 1985 beat­ing deaths of Berta Herndon and Del Dean Herndon. 
• George Junior Porter, 46, of Nezperce. Convicted for the December 1988 beat­ing death of Theresa Lynn Jones. 
• Paul Ezra Rhoades, 46, of Idaho Falls. Convicted of the mur­ders of Susan Michelbacher and Stacy Dawn Baldwin. 
• Robin Lee Row, 45, of Boise. Convicted for the February 1992 mur­ders of her hus­band Randy, and chil­dren, Joshua Cornellier and Tabitha Cornellier. 
• Lacey Mark Sivak, 44, of Boise. Convicted in the April 1981 shoot­ing-stab­bing of Dixie Wilson. 
• Gene Francis Stuart, 52, of Orofino. Convicted in the September 1981 beat­ing death of 3‑year-old Robert Miller. 
• James Edward Wood, 55, of Pensacola, Fla. Pleaded guilty to the July 30, 1993, mur­der of 11-year-old Jeralee Underwood. Under state review 
• Michael Allen Jauhola, 30, was con­vict­ed by a jury for the April 16, 1998, beat­ing death of fel­low prison inmate John Alfred Williams. 
• Darrell Edward Payne, 36, of Nampa. Convicted of the July 6, 2000, abduc­tion, rob­bery, rape and mur­der of Samantha Maher. 
• Dale Carter Shackelford, 41, of Ironton, Mo. Convicted for the 1999 slay­ings of Donna Fontaine and Fred Palahniuk. Awaiting resentencing 
• Timothy Alan Dunlap, 35, of Sellersburg, Ind. Pleaded guilty to the Oct. 16, 1991, shot­gun slay­ing of Tonya Crane. 
• Faron Earl Lovelace, 46, of Sandpoint. He was con­vict­ed for the 1995 exe­cu­tion-style mur­der of Jeremy Scott. 
• Jimmie Vurel Thomas, 60, of Littlefield, Texas. Convicted of 1^st-degree mur­der for the Nov. 14, 1997, shoot­ing death of Steven Louder.”

NEVADA: ​“13 Nevada death row inmates could receive new sen­tences” (source: Associated Press)

“13 inmates on Nevada’s death row could be resen­tenced under a fed­er­al appeal’s court ruling. 

Last year, the U.S Supreme Court ruled only juries — not judges — can impose a death sentence. 

On Tuesday, the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco deter­mined the rul­ing is retroactive. 

“By my count, there are 13 peo­ple on death row whose death sen­tences may be affect­ed by the 9^th Circuit’s rul­ing if it’s not over­turned,” Deputy Nevada Attorney General David Neidert, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. 

Nevada’s 13 inmates, three from Washoe County and 10 from Clark County, were sen­tenced to death by 3‑judge pan­els after the defen­dants either plead­ed guilty or a jury dead­locked while decid­ing their sentence. 

Neidert said in some cas­es, new juries may need to be seated. 

Nevada’s sys­tem was slightly different. 

Until this year in Nevada, a 3‑judge pan­el ruled on death penal­ty cas­es for guilty pleas or hung juries. Lawmakers passed leg­is­la­tion this year elim­i­nat­ing the 3‑judge pan­el and requir­ing juries in all capital cases.”

NEBRASKA: ​“Federal court’s deci­sion could emp­ty Nebraska’s death row” (source: The Independent)

“A fed­er­al court’s rul­ing over­turn­ing the death sen­tences of more than 100 con­demned pris­on­ers even­tu­al­ly could emp­ty out death row in Nebraska. 

The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rul­ing Tuesday direct­ly affect­ed death row inmates in Arizona, Idaho and Montana. 

But death penal­ty oppo­nents hoped it might be extend­ed to Nebraska and Colorado, 2 states that have had sim­i­lar laws but under different jurisdiction. 

The fed­er­al appeals court said that a U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion last sum­mer can be applied retroac­tive­ly. The high court deci­sion said only juries, not judges alone, can decide whether a defen­dant is eli­gi­ble for death. 

Gov. Mike Johanns called Nebraska law­mak­ers into a spe­cial ses­sion in November in response to the Supreme Court rul­ing, and the Legislature passed a law con­form­ing to the high court decision.”

Click Here to vis­it DPIC’s page on Ring v. Arizona