US Supreme Court Says 6 Texas Death Row Cases Should Be Reviewed For Poor Lawyering In Appeals

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

HOUSTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sent the cases of six Texas death row inmates, including one of the infamous "Texas 7" gang of escapees, back to a lower court for reviews of whether attorneys in earlier stages of appeals let the men down.

The decisions are in line with last week's ruling in another Texas case where the justices, in a 5-4 vote, said a condemned prisoner had deficient legal help early because appeals lawyers didn't raise challenges that his trial lawyers were ineffective.

The high court returned the cases to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for review. None of the six has a pending execution date, although some had come close to being put to death in the past before their punishment was delayed by the courts.

Among the condemned prisoners is Donald Newbury, 51, one of seven inmates who broke out of a South Texas prison in 2000. One fugitive killed himself as Colorado authorities closed in on the gang. The remaining six were convicted of killing a suburban Dallas police officer Aubrey Hawkins during a Christmas Eve robbery in Irving in 2000. Two of the six already have been executed.

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/nation/209943581.html

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Lemme guess...

The Roberts-Scalia wing voted that these prisoners' representation was just fine, those in the 'liberal' wing voted that they were denied sufficient legal help, and Kennedy was the swing vote in a rare break with the reactionaries. I may be wrong, but that's how I suspect the vote went down.

[happyslug]

2. Here is the case referred to, the one that forced the Supreme Court to send these cases back down.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-10189_6k47.pdf


BREYER, J., delivered the opinion for the Court, in which KENNEDY, GINSBURG, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., joined.

ROBERTS, C. J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which ALITO, J., joined. SCALIA, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which THOMAS, J., joined.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Just as I thought

The four corporate reactionaries voted to curtail rights, the four possessing a heart voted for a vestige of rights, and Kennedy - as usual - was the swing vote.