The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall . . . have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” In Thornell v. Jones, decided on May 30, 2024, the Court ruled that the death penalty imposed by a state court on a convicted killer of multiple victims, including a small child, in an entirely brutal and unprovoked manner, all for the purpose of monetary gain, should stand, notwithstanding defense counsel’s failure to convince the state court that the “mitigating” factors against a death sentence (i.e. mental illness and childhood abuse, combined with drunkenness) outweighed the “aggravating” factors favoring a death sentence. The vote on the Court was six to three. Justice Alito wrote the majority Opinion in which Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett concurred. Justices Sotomayor, Kagen, and Jackson dissented, based on their belief that the Court should have allowed the lower federal courts to decide the issue of which evidence outweighed the other evidence, instead of deciding that issue on its own.
Dan Rhea
RECENT RULINGS 