It's a holiday today -- even though many of us (myself included) nonetheless remain hard at work -- so no published cases today.
But this death penalty case from Friday reminds us that cases -- even (and perhaps especially) death penalty cases -- are straightforward and easy when you don't have all the facts.
The knifing murder of a pregnant woman and her baby during a botched nighttime burglary is surely a terrible crime. It's what got the defendant sentenced to death. A murder that was described at trial and at sentencing in excruciating detail.
But there's also a long story about how the defendant -- who was 19 at the time of the murder -- got to that point. Only a fraction of which was presented at sentencing.
So the Ninth Circuit remands. Read the full opinion for more details. But be forewarned that pretty much everything about this case is depressing. None of it will make for a happier day. None of it.
I've also got to at least mention how long all this took. The murder was in 1982. The death penalty was imposed (after defendant pled guilty) in early 1983. That's thirty five years ago. And we're only now on the first federal appeal. The state proceedings took until 1998. Though that leaves nearly two decades for the case to eventually wind its way from the district court to the Ninth Circuit.
That's a long, long time.
Of course you want to get these things right. There are few things more important than whether someone lives or dies.
But still. That's a long time.
And it's not even nearly over at this point.
