Monthly Archive: October 2021

Missouri Executes Triple Murderer

by · Oct 6, 2021 2:22 pm

Despite appeals from the Pope and racial activists including Congressman Cori Bush,  triple murderer Earnest Johnson was executed by lethal injection Tuesday evening.   Jim Salter of the Associated Press reports that Johnson  was sentenced to death for the February 1994 murders of three at Casey’s General Store in Columbia.  Johnson, who intended to rob the store for money to buy drugs, waited until closing time before pulling a gun on the manager, 46-year-old Mary Bratcher, and demanding that she open the safe.  After Bratcher tried to flush the safe key down a toilet, Johnson shot her and employees Mable Scruggs, 57 and Fred Jones, 58.  When all three survived the gunshots, Johnson attacked them with a claw hammer and a screwdriver.  A mountain of evidence left the jury with no question regarding Johnson’s guilt.

Continue reading . . .

The Riddles of Harmless Error and Habeas Corpus – Part II

by · Oct 5, 2021 7:22 pm

Today the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Brown v. Davenport, No. 20-826 (transcript here; audio here).

The issue in this case involves the standard of review federal habeas courts must apply when reviewing a state court’s determination of harmless error. Davenport was partially shackled during his trial for first-degree murder. On direct appeal, the state appellate courts found that his partial shackling was unconstitutional, but was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt under the standard announced in Chapman v. California (1968). Continue reading . . .

Liberals Lie While People Die

by · Oct 5, 2021 4:02 pm

In recent years the gap between fact and fiction in American journalism has become so wide that articles citing completely false “facts” are routinely featured in once-respected news sources.  One recent example is a September 29 article in the San Francisco Examiner by Opinion Editor Gil Duran.  The piece focuses on the tragic September 4 sexual assault and murder of 61-year-old Molly Tibbitts in Sacramento.   Habitual felon Troy Davis was arrested for these crimes along with killing the victim’s dogs and setting fire to her home.   Davis had been arrested for stealing a car last June and was released without bail.   As one might expect, the Tibbitts family, her friends and neighbors and law enforcement leaders wanted to know why a repeat felon on parole got released on zero bail after stealing a car three months before the murder.  Duran contends that the Sacramento County’s “pro-Trump” Sheriff “may deserve some of the blame.”  He also suggests that if this crime had occurred in his former home of San Francisco, or in Los Angeles, Republicans would have blamed the progressive Chesa Boudin and George Gascon, both of whom support zero bail.

Continue reading . . .

The Riddles of Harmless Error and Habeas Corpus

by · Oct 5, 2021 11:06 am

“An error occurred at trial. I have grave doubt whether this error contributed to the verdict. Therefore, no reasonable person could fail to have at least a reasonable doubt whether it contributed to the verdict.”

Does this follow, or is it a non sequitur? The U.S. Supreme Court puzzled over that question this morning in Brown v. Davenport, No. 20-826. To answer it correctly, in my view, the Court may have to disclaim a bit of dictum in Fry v. Pliler (2007). Continue reading . . .

The Long List from the Long Conference

by · Oct 4, 2021 7:57 am

The U.S. Supreme Court opened its October 2021 Term today, the First Monday in October. As usual, it released an orders list from last week’s conference containing many denials of certiorari, a number of “vacate and remand” orders for lower courts to reconsider judgments based on decisions from last term, a few individual opinions regarding denial of certiorari, and no grants for full briefing and argument. The latter were in the short list issued last Thursday.

Among the notable denials is Deck v. Blair, No. 20-8333, denying review of the Eighth Circuit’s reinstatement of the death sentence of Carman Deck for the 1996 murder of an elderly couple, James and Zelma Long. Deck had to be sentenced to death three times in this case because of erroneous decisions by the Supreme Court itself, one in Deck’s own initial case and another that caused his second sentence to be overturned in state court. CJLF filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Long family in the Eighth Circuit. The State of Missouri may now proceed with long-overdue justice, absent any extraordinary interventions by the courts. Continue reading . . .