Entries tagged with “John Montenegro Cruz”
Policy Issues
Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Apr 15, 2022
Advocacy Group Tells Supreme Court that Negative Stereotypes Distort Perception that Latinos in Death-Penalty Cases Pose Future Danger to Society
An amicus brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Arizona death-row prisoner John Montenegro Cruz presents evidence that Latinx defendants are particularly vulnerable to juror bias regarding determinations of future…
Facts & Research
United States Supreme Court
,Nov 02, 2022
Supreme Court Hears Argument in Death Penalty Case that Could Provide States a “Roadmap for Defying … Criminal Law Decisions”
In 1994, the United States Supreme Court held in Simmons v. South Carolina that when the prosecution makes future dangerousness an issue in a capital case, a defendant has a due process right to inform jurors that he will not be parole eligible if he is not sentenced to death. For more than a decade, Arizona courts refused to apply that precedent. Then, in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily struck down that practice in Lynch v. Arizona,…
Facts & Research
United States Supreme Court
,Apr 01, 2022
Supreme Court to Consider Whether Arizona Can Deny Death-Row Prisoner Review of Claim that Jury Was Misled About His Parole Eligibility
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the case of an Arizona death-row prisoner whose sentence was upheld by the state’s appellate courts even though his trial judge unconstitutionally refused to inform the jury that he would be ineligible for parole if sentenced to life in prison. In an order issued March 28, 2021, the Court granted John Montenegro Cruz’s petition to hear his case, but limited its review to the question of whether the…