Number: RL33621
Title: Capital Punishment: Supreme Court Decisions of the 2005-2006 Term
Authors: Paul S. Wallace, Jr., American Law Division 
Abstract: The six capital punishment decisions which were decided during the 2005-2006 Term involved issues concerning: (1) a challenge to the lethal injection protocol as cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment (Hill v. McDonough), (2) constitutionality of a death penalty state statute that requires death if plus and minus factors are in balance (Kansas v. Marsh), (3) whether petitioner's compelling new evidence, though at the very least a colorable claim of actual innocence, was as a matter of law insufficient to excuse his failure to present that evidence before the state courts (House v. Bell), (4) disagreement among the courts regarding whether witness testimony was "mitigating evidence" (designed to spare the 18 year old from lethal injection) or "alibi evidence"(that went directly to whether the defendant was guilty) which should have been presented during the guilt or innocence phase of the trial (Oregon v. Guzek), (5) whether State's law governing admissibility of third-party guilt evidence violates the capital defendant's constitutional right to present a complete defense premised on due process, confrontation, and compulsory process clauses (Holmes v. South Carolina), and (6) whether a new trial is warranted if two of several aggravating factors found by the jury are later held to be invalid (Brown v. Sanders). In three cases the Court kept alive the appeals of the death row inmates in Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina. In the other three cases, the Court affirmed the States' death penalty sentences.
Pages: 13
Date: August 23, 2006