Entries tagged with “Danny Lee Jones”
Policy Issues
Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 13, 2024
By Reversing Grants of Relief, Supreme Court Signals Lower Courts to Apply Stricter Approach to Review of Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims
In the past two weeks, the Supreme Court overturned grants of relief for two death-sentenced prisoners. In both cases, lower courts had found they received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. The Court’s rulings are in line with its other decisions in death penalty cases restricting appeals for death-sentenced prisoners and extolling the importance of “finality” over merits-based…
Facts & Research
United States Supreme Court
,Dec 15, 2023
Supreme Court Agrees to Second Review of Arizona Death Penalty Case on Arizona’s Request
On Wednesday, December 13, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Thornell v. Jones, its first death penalty case to be heard at oral argument in the 2023 term. Unlike most death penalty cases that seek Supreme Court review, the petitioner here is the state of Arizona, which asks the Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s grant of relief for death-sentenced prisoner Danny Lee Jones (pictured). The Ninth Circuit held that Mr. Jones demonstrated ineffective assistance of counsel at…
Facts & Research
United States Supreme Court
,Apr 24, 2024
Supreme Court Roundup: Justices Hear Oral Arguments on Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Cruel and Unusual Punishment; Defend Positions on Stays
On April 17, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Thornell v. Jones, a case implicating the test for ineffective assistance of counsel — and the first and only oral argument in a death penalty case scheduled this term. Arizona appealed the Ninth Circuit’s decision vacating the death sentence of Danny Lee Jones, which found that Mr. Jones was prejudiced by his attorney’s failure to present key mitigating evidence as to Mr. Jones’ brain damage, childhood physical and sexual abuse, and…