Entries tagged with “Henry Sireci

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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United States Supreme Court

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Dec 13, 2016

As Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty Petitions, Justice Breyer Renews Call For Constitutional Review

In the span of one week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review peti­tions from six death row pris­on­ers, deny­ing them relief in their cas­es. The peti­tion­ers raised issues relat­ed to DNA pro­ce­dures, con­flict of coun­sel, a dis­put­ed guilty plea, juror bias, judi­cial over­ride, and a pre­vi­ous­ly botched exe­cu­tion attempt. In two of the cas­es, the Court allowed exe­cu­tions to pro­ceed in Georgia and Alabama. The case of Ronald Smith left the Court dead­locked 4 – 4, with enough votes…