The U.S. Supreme Court will hear argu­ments in two death penal­ty cas­es on Wednesday, December 7, 2005, includ­ing a case to deter­mine the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Kansas’ death penal­ty statute and a case that involves the issue of inno­cence.

In Kansas v. Marsh, No. 04 – 1170, the jus­tices will con­sid­er the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Kansas’ death penal­ty, which requires that a death sen­tence be imposed when a jury finds that aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stance and mit­i­gat­ing cir­cum­stances have equal weight. The jury in Marsh’s death sen­tenc­ing hear­ing was direct­ed accord­ing to the statute that if it found the aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stances and mit­i­gat­ing cir­cum­stances to have equal weight, the death penal­ty would be required. Marsh was sen­tenced to death. The Justices will review the Kansas court’s deci­sion that there is ​“no way” the weigh­ing equa­tion is per­mis­si­ble under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. It will also con­sid­er two addi­tion­al ques­tions: 1) Does this Court have juris­dic­tion to review the judg­ment of the Kansas Supreme Court under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1257, as con­strued by Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469 (1975)?, and 2) Was the Kansas Supreme Court’s judg­ment ade­quate­ly sup­port­ed by a ground inde­pen­dent of federal law? 

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In the sec­ond case, Oregon v. Guzek, No. 04 – 928, the Justices will con­sid­er a defendant’s right to intro­duce evi­dence that would cast doubt on his con­vic­tion dur­ing the sen­tenc­ing phase of his tri­al. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that a cap­i­tal defen­dant has a right under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to offer evi­dence and argu­ment in sup­port of a residual-doubt claim. 

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See U.S. Supreme Court.

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