Court Urged to Rule in Death Penalty Case

[Judi Lynn]

Sep 24, 10:31 PM EDT

Court Urged to Rule in Death Penalty Case




WASHINGTON (AP) -- Arizona has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling that would spare more than 100 death row inmates from execution.

State attorneys said this month's ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the only one of its kind and "opens the door to untold litigation."

Justices should review the case "in the interest of fairness to the parties and to homicide victims," wrote John Pressley Todd, an Arizona assistant attorney general, in a filing sent to the court Tuesday.

At issue are inmates who were sentenced to death by judges, not juries. The appeals court applied retroactively a 2002 ruling by the Supreme Court that declared some nonjury sentences unconstitutional.
(snip/...)

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SCOTUS_DEATH_PENALTY?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT