Supreme Court orders new trial in death penalty case News
Supreme Court orders new trial in death penalty case

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 5-4 decision that public defenders had wrongfully failed to review records showing evidence of mental retardation and a troubled childhood in the case of Pennsylvania death row inmate Ronald Rompilla. In the second death row sentence overturned [JURIST report] in as many weeks, the Court found that a defendant's lawyer must make reasonable efforts to seek out evidence of mitigating factors in a defendant's case. Duke Law provides a case backgrounder. Read the opinion [Cornell LII]. AP has more.