SCOTUS grants cert to three capital cases

This wikilog article is a draft, it was not published yet.

by: Ryan • March 30, 2015 • no comments

At the beginning of the month the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) agreed to hear a case involving Florida's death penalty scheme. At the end of the month (today), the court granted cert to three more capital cases, two of which have been consolidated for reasons apparent in the "questions presented." Before you get too excited, keep in mind that the cert was requested by Kansas, after the Kansas Supreme Court threw out the death sentences.

In Kansas v. Carr and Kansas v. Carr, the questions presented are:

Whether the Eighth Amendment requires that a capital-sentencing jury be affirmatively instructed that mitigating circumstances “need not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” as the Kansas Supreme Court held here, or instead whether the Eighth Amendment is satisfied by instructions that, in context, make clear that each juror must individually assess and weigh any mitigating circumstances; and whether the trial court's decision not to sever the sentencing phase of the co-defendant brothers’ trial here – a decision that comports with the traditional approach preferring joinder in circumstances like this – violated an Eighth Amendment right to an “individualized sentencing” determination and was not harmless in any event.

I know of at least one case in Oregon that would potentially be impacted by the second question.

When I get details on Kansas v. Gleason, I will update this post.