California Supreme Court Declines To Take Up L.A. Death Penalty Cases
LAPPL News Watch
September 13, 2019
The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to consider whether Gov. Gavin Newsom’s moratorium on executions prejudices capital defendants.
Meeting in closed session, the state high court declined to review two Los Angeles County cases in which defendants face the death penalty. The court issued a short order that did not explain the justices’ thinking, but the action means that the court is unlikely to weigh in on other cases in which defense attorneys claim that jurors considering a death sentence might be swayed by the moratorium.
Prosecutors can now move forward with the two Los Angeles County cases, one of which had been put on hold.
Attorneys representing Jade Douglas Harris, who is accused in a shooting rampage that left three people dead and two wounded, and Cleamon Johnson, a gang leader known as “Big Evil” who is charged with five counts of murder, had argued that a fair decision would be impossible given that Newsom granted a reprieve to the more than 700 prisoners on death row and had the state’s execution chamber dismantled — with much fanfare in front of cameras.
Jurors, they argue, might be more likely to favor the death penalty if they don’t believe it would actually be carried out.
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