Judicial Override in Ala. Death Sentencing Survives Challenge

Alabama’s capital-sentencing scheme doesn’t give judges too much discretion to override a jury’s conclusions about the propriety of a death sentence, a unanimous Alabama Supreme Court ruled Sept. 30 (Bohannon v. State, 2016 BL 325208, Ala., No. 1150640, 9/30/16).

The state’s unique capital-sentencing procedure doesn’t run afoul of Hurst v. Florida, 2016 BL 7258 (U.S. 2016) (98 CrL 333, 1/20/16) (84 U.S.L.W. 931, 1/14/16), because juries—not judges—are tasked with making the critical finding that an aggravating circumstance exists beyond a reasonable doubt to make a defendant death-eligible, the court said in an opinion ...