Monthly Archive: October 2023

More Delay on Grants Pass

by · Oct 12, 2023 4:10 pm

See earlier posts here, here and here. This case involves a challenge to a Ninth Circuit decision that severely inhibits cities’ ability to do anything about people camping on its streets and in its parks. The petition to review the case is supported by two dozen amici curiae from across the political spectrum.

Today the Court granted the plaintiffs an extension to December 6 to file their opposition, despite their initial waiver of the right to file at all. That means that the conference of January 5, 2024, is the first realistic date for the Court to consider whether to take up the case.

Cases granted in January can still be heard and decided in the same term, but a few “relistings” of the case may put it off to next term. Continue reading . . .

Texas Executes Carjacking Murderer

by · Oct 11, 2023 3:20 pm

A Texas criminal who killed an elderly woman during a carjacking was executed late Tuesday.  Juan Lozano and Michael Graczyk of the Associated Press report that Jedidiah Murphy passed out a few seconds after receiving an injection of the anesthesia pentobarbital and was pronounced dead 25 minutes later.  A 2018 Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision  and a news story in the Dallas Morning News describe the murder of 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham.  On the afternoon of October 4, 2000, Murphy forced his way into the woman’s car as she was driving home from shopping.  He had her drive to a secluded area then made her get into the car’s trunk before shooting her in the head.  He then dumped her body into a creek and drove off.  Hours later he used the victim’s credit cards to purchase alcohol and cigarettes.  Police caught up with him two days later.  

Continue reading . . .

Be Careful What You Ask For

by · Oct 4, 2023 1:55 pm

From August last year until last month, Alabama murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith waged a legal battle to require the state to use nitrogen hypoxia, not lethal injection, to execute him. He won. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama issued this order on September 20.

The order notes, “In no fewer than two hearings before this Court, Plaintiff has confirmed that nitrogen hypoxia is his chosen and preferred method of execution.” The order says, “Defendants …  are permanently ENJOINED from executing Kenneth Eugene Smith by lethal injection. Sanctions will be swift and serious if this injunction is violated.” Because Alabama intends to carry out the execution by Smith’s preferred method, the court dismissed the case except for any proceedings to enforce the injunction.

So, the Alabama AG goes to the Alabama Supreme Court with a motion to set an execution date. You know what happens next, right? Continue reading . . .

Florida Executes Double Murderer

by · Oct 4, 2023 10:59 am

Michael Duane Zack, a Florida man who murdered two women in 1996, was executed by lethal injection Tuesday night.  Brendan Farrington of the Associated Press reports that Zack’s attorneys sought a last-minute stay arguing that he suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder, which was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court Monday.   A Florida Supreme Court decision upholding Zack’s conviction and death sentence describes the brutal murders of Laura Rosillo and Ravonne Smith. Continue reading . . .

Major Effort to Overturn 9th Circuit Ruling Allowing Homeless Camps

by · Oct 3, 2023 4:08 pm

The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation has joined the city of Grants Pass, Oregon to seek a Supreme Court review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ extension of its 2019 ruling in Martin v. City of Boise. That decision announced, in effect, that the homeless had an Eighth Amendment right to camp on public property in any city where the number of homeless exceeded the number of beds in shelters. The ruling covers the nine western states in the Ninth Circuit which includes Alaska, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, California, Arizona and Hawaii. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a petition by the City of Boise, supported by a brief by CJLF, to review and overturn that ruling.

Continue reading . . .

First Monday in October

by · Oct 2, 2023 8:08 am

The U.S. Supreme Court began its new session this morning. The Court issued an orders list from the Long Conference. As expected, no new cases were taken up.

Only one case is on the docket for argument today. The Court grapples with Congress’s sloppy drafting in the case of Pulsifer v. United States, No. 22-340. Two civil cases are on the docket for tomorrow and Wednesday. Continue reading . . .