SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK

Appeal from Virginia death row inmate denied

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a Virginia death row inmate who killed two people during an escape in 2006.

William Morva argued that he should have been allowed to present evidence that he wouldn't pose a risk of future violence if he was spared the death penalty.

But the justices on Tuesday left in place an appeals court ruling that rejected those claims.

Morva was in jail awaiting trial on attempted robbery charges in 2006 when he overpowered a deputy sheriff during a trip to the hospital. He used the deputy's pistol to fatally shoot an unarmed security guard and fatally shot another deputy during a manhunt the next day.

 

Justices reject appeal from South Carolina death row inmate

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a South Carolina death row inmate who pleaded guilty to killing an off-duty police officer during a multistate crime spree in 2004.

The justices on Tuesday left in place a lower court ruling that rejected Mikal Dean Mahdi's claims that his lawyer didn't do enough to present evidence of his troubled childhood.

Mahdi said his lawyer relied on a single expert witness instead of calling family members and others to offer more details about Mahdi's years growing up with an abusive father.

Prosecutors said that during his crime spree Mahdi killed a North Carolina convenience store clerk, carjacked a sport-utility vehicle in South Carolina and later killed Orangeburg Public Safety Capt. James Myers on Myers' farm.

 

Court turns down appeal of tea party groups over IRS review

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a nonprofit group that wanted to sue individual IRS officials for targeting tea party groups that applied for tax-exempt status.

The justices on Tuesday left in place an appeals court ruling that said the group could not sue former IRS official Lois Lerner and others for their roles in singling out certain applications for extra, sometimes burdensome scrutiny.

An inspector general's had report found no evidence of a political conspiracy, but blamed the agency for poor management.

The group True the Vote says the IRS subjected it to unwarranted delays while processing its application for tax-exempt status. It sought damages for a violation of First Amendment rights.

The group's lawsuit against the agency itself is still pending in a lower court.

 

Appeal from former NYC councilman declined

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has declined to disturb the conviction of former New York City councilman Daniel Halloran on bribery and fraud charges.

The justices on Tuesday rejected Halloran's appeal of his 2014 conviction for trying to help another politician buy a spot on the 2013 mayoral ballot.

Halloran argued that there was not enough evidence to convict him. A federal appeals court rejected those arguments last year and upheld his 10-year prison sentence.

The Queens Republican was found guilty based on evidence that he helped Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith bribe GOP leaders for their approval to let Smith run for mayor as a Republican.

 

Court dismisses Alabama inmate's death row appeal

WASHINGTON (AP) - Alabama can again try to execute a convicted killer who has been on death row for 30 years and had seven execution dates postponed, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The justices turned down an appeal from Tommy Arthur, who investigators said was having an affair with a woman who paid him $10,000 to kill her husband.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer said they would have heard the appeal, which centered on a requirement that condemned inmates challenging their method of execution name a feasible alternate method that is also allowed by state law.

Sotomayor said in an 18-page opinion that Arthur had presented considerable evidence that Alabama's lethal injection procedures "will result in intolerable and needless agony" and had suggested a firing squad as an alternative.

The Supreme Court's refusal to hear Arthur's appeal came after the court issued a last-minute stay in November, blocking Arthur's execution as he sat in a holding cell outside the state's lethal injection chamber.

Chief Justice John Roberts said Arthur's appeal "does not merit the court's review."

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall praised the decision.

"The long wait for justice may be nearing an end for convicted killer Thomas Arthur," Marshall said in a statement. "For more than 30 years he has fought to delay his execution for the 1982 cold-blooded murder of Troy Wicker."

Arthur was convicted of killing Wicker as he slept inside his Muscle Shoals home. At the time, Arthur was in a prison work-release program for the slaying of his sister-in-law.

Arthur has maintained his innocence in the Wicker killing. His attorney Suhana Han declined to comment.

The decision in the Arthur case was handed down as the Supreme Court also rejected an attempt by Arkansas inmates to stop their executions over claims that their deaths would be "intolerably painful."

The nine inmates asked the justices to review an Arkansas Supreme Court decision upholding a law that keeps the source of the lethal injection drugs secret. Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of legal challenges and the difficulty of obtaining execution drugs. A batch of one of Arkansas' execution drugs expired New Year's Day and an agency spokesman said Tuesday that it had not acquired additional doses of potassium chloride.

Published: Thu, Feb 23, 2017