USA - Arizona

USA - Arizona. US Supreme Court reinstates death penalty for Danny Lee Jones

May 30, 2024:

May 30, 2024 - Arizona. US Supreme Court reinstates death penalty for Danny Lee Jones
By a vote of 6-3 along ideological lines, the justices ruled that a federal appeals court was wrong when it ordered post-conviction relief for Danny Lee Jones, who contended that his Sixth Amendment right to have adequate representation by his lawyer was violated during the sentencing phase of his trial.
Jones was convicted and sentenced to die in 1993 for the 1992 brutal murders Robert Weaver and Weaver’s seven-year-old daughter Tisha.
Jones argued that his attorney, a public defender with no capital case experience, was constitutionally ineffective based on the Supreme Court's "Strickland" standard.
The standard comes from the 1984 Supreme Court case Strickland v. Washington. It established that a defendant must show their attorney's performance was deficient, resulting in an unfair trial, to claim their constitutional rights were violated.
In Jones' case, he alleged the judge and jury did not get to hear all the available mitigating evidence.
While Jones' attorney did present some mitigating evidence, he did not thoroughly investigate or present at trial evidence of Jones's mental health problems.
Jones claimed that these failures amounted to an ineffective assistance of counsel claim under Strickland. While the U.S. District Court of Arizona disagreed and denied Jones' request for relief, the 9th Circuit reversed that ruling and sided with Jones.
Arizona argued that the 9th Circuit did not give enough deference to the district court ruling and improperly interpreted the Strickland standard.
Today the Supreme Court agreed. On Jones’ case see also HoC October 2, 2009 and July 02, 2021.

https://eu.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2024/06/04/supreme-court-reinstates-death-penalty-arizona-man-danny-lee-jones/73953294007/
https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/05/justices-reinstate-death-sentence-for-arizona-man/