Supreme Court Finds No Due Process Flaw In Retroactive Demise of Diminished Capacity

A state court did not open the door to federal habeas corpus relief when it retroactively applied a change in the law to block a defendant from asserting at his retrial the same defense of diminished capacity that he had been allowed to present the first time around, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 20 (Metrish v. Lancaster, U.S., 12-547).

Writing for the unanimous court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ruled that the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the defense of diminished capacity was not so unexpected or indefensible that retroactive application of the change could be regarded ...