Supreme Court Rules Against Death Row Inmate on Resentencing (1)

The US Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s decision to order a new hearing for an Arizona prisoner on death row.

In a 6-3 ruling Thursday, the court said the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had departed from well-established rules that required Danny Lee Jones to show his attorney provided a “deficient” performance that “prejudiced” him when it ruled his Sixth Amendment right to an effective lawyer was violated during the sentencing phase of his trial.

Writing for the court’s majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the appeals court failed to adequately take into account the weighty aggravating ...