Supreme Court Returns Case to Alabama Because Attorney Was Ignorant of the Law

On February 24, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ordered an Alabama court to reconsider the case of Anthony Hinton, who has maintained his innocence since he was sentenced to death 28 years ago. Mr. Hinton’s lawyer wrongly believed that he could spend only $1,000 on a firearms expert during the trial, and as a result, hired a witness whom he knew was unqualified, and who the Court said was “badly discredited” by the prosecution. Hinton’s appellate lawyers later claimed that his trial lawyer’s mistake constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. During Hinton’s appeals, three experts testified that they could not conclude Hinton’s gun had fired the bullets used in the crime, essentially rebutting the prosecutor’s primary evidence. Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, who has represented Hinton since 1999, said, “There’s dramatic evidence that he’s been wrongly convicted and no one can credibly assert that a capital defendant can get the assistance he needs for $1000.” The Court returned the case to Alabama’s courts to determine whether the trial’s lawyer error preudiced the outcome of the case.

(J. Wegman, “The One- Eyed Witness,” New York Times, February 24, 2014). See Representation and U.S. Supreme Court.