News Brief — California Supreme Court Overturns Conviction in 37-Year-Old Death Penalty Case

NEWS (2/13/20): The California Supreme Court has granted a new trial to Kenneth Earl Gay, who was sentenced to death in 1985 for the murder of a Los Angeles police officer. In a unanimous decision on February 13, 2020, the court ruled that Gay’s lawyer had “obtained appointment to represent Gay through fraud, counseled him to make damaging confessions to the prosecution without safeguards to ensure the confessions would not be used without a deal (while deceiving him as to whether such safeguards were in place), and failed to conduct a timely investigation into available testimony from eyewitnesses who would have exculpated Gay and peace officers who would have inculpated Gay’s codefendant.” The court had overturned Gay’s death sentence in 1998, finding that the lawyer had provided ineffective representation in the sentencing phase of trial.