Supreme Court Rejects Alabama Death Row Prisoner’s Request for Resentencing

The Supreme Court recently overturned a lower court ruling that had vacated the sentence of an Alabama death row inmate after finding that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel during the sentencing process. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant the right to effective assistance of counsel. The June 10 ruling in the case of Marcus Bernard Williams came as a follow-up to the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on May 30 in Thornell v. Jones. At issue in that case was whether a federal appeals court properly weighed the mitigating and aggravating evidence regarding the inmate before ruling that Arizona death row inmate Danny Lee Jones was prejudiced by ineffective counsel during sentencing....