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Sixth Circuit rejects effort by Ohio murderer to extend Roper to block execution

By Douglas A. Berman

Ohio's now-standard monthly execution plans today produced this interesting little opinion from the Sixth Circuit in an order denying a stay application.  The order starts this way: Petitioner William Garner, an Ohio inmate sentenced to death, moves this court to stay his impending execution, which is scheduled for July 13, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. Garner bases the stay motion on his application for permission to file a second or successive habeas petition, an earlier petition having been fully litigated and ultimately denied. His petition is based on Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), the Supreme Court?s holding that the death penalty may not be imposed for crimes committed by someone under 18 years of age. Garner was 19 years old at the time of the crime, but his counsel urge that Roper extends to adults whose mental age is that of a juvenile...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on July 12, 2010 (boomark / email).