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TexasTowelie

(111,279 posts)
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 06:12 PM Jun 2020

U.S. Supreme Court rules Texas death row inmate had an ineffective lawyer, orders new review

by Jolie McCullough, Texas Tribune


The U.S. Supreme Court has again ruled against Texas’ top criminal court in a death penalty case, the latest in the high court’s repeated dismissals of Texas decisions against death row inmates.

In a 19-page opinion on a 6-3 ruling Monday, the justices sent Terence Andrus’ case back to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for further review. They said the court must again examine whether the “abundant” amount of mitigating evidence not presented at Andrus’ trial should warrant a new punishment trial to decide if he should get lethal injection or life in prison without parole. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented.

Andrus was sentenced to death in 2012 for two 2008 shooting deaths in Fort Bend County during an unsuccessful carjacking attempt. Last year, the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the trial court’s recommendation on appeal that Andrus get a new punishment trial because his lawyer failed to raise potentially sentence-changing evidence.

The Supreme Court ruling focused on the evidence that could have been used to sway the jury from a death sentence. This includes his mother’s drug addiction and prostitution, his role as caretaker for his siblings when his mother would disappear, his own drug use, multiple suicide attempts and a diagnosis of psychosis.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/15/supreme-court-texas-death-penalty/

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U.S. Supreme Court rules Texas death row inmate had an ineffective lawyer, orders new review (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jun 2020 OP
Holy shit! RandySF Jun 2020 #1
Holy shit, indeed! n/t Laelth Jun 2020 #3
What happens to the ineffective lawyer? PJMcK Jun 2020 #2
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