Courtesy of WikiCommons
From time to time we here at USDemocrazy let our legal correspondent out of his cage.
When he’s out, you can be sure he will sniff out lawyer-letdowns that might be flying under the public radar (we like to say he has a new nose that knows news).
Well he’s got a catch for ya!
The Supreme Court recently issued a special decision (called a per curiam order) regarding a Korean War Veteran convicted of murder.
In the case Porter v. McCollum, George Porter was convicted in 1987 for the murder of his former girlfriend and her boyfriend, to which he plead guilty.
But here’s the catch… Porter’s Lawyer did not mention his client’s wartime service in Korea during the trial. The Supreme court cried “Foul”!
Why?
Here’s the rundown:
Adam Liptak at the New York Times gives us the general overview:
A death penalty lawyer’s failure to present evidence of the trauma his client suffered in combat in the Korean War requires a new sentencing hearing, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday.
The BLT tells us that this will be impacting future veterans cases:
In language that is sure to be cited in future cases involving veterans, the Court said that the fact that Porter went AWOL in Korea did not detract from the significance of his combat experience as mitigating evidence.
Robert Barnes at the Washington Post gives us some of the Court’s language:
“Moreover, the relevance of Porter’s extensive combat experience is not only that he served honorably under extreme hardship and gruesome conditions, but also that the jury might find mitigating the intense stress and mental and emotional toll that combat took on Porter.”
SCOTUS Blog gives their extensive roundup here.
This can be some pretty controversial stuff! Does this smell funny to you?
