Court ‘Wrong’ to Review Death Penalty Challenge, SCOTUS says

The Sixth Circuit “was wrong” to reach the merits of a convicted murderer’s challenge to a jury instruction, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 19 (Jenkins v. Hutton, 2017 BL 208297, U.S., 16-1116, reversed 6/19/17).

Percy Hutton was convicted of murder and other crimes in an Ohio state court and sentenced to death.

He filed a habeas petition, arguing the trial court violated his due process rights at the penalty phase of his trial by not properly instructing the jury on how to apply aggravating and mitigating factors necessary to return a death sentence.

Ruling on Hutton’s petition, ...