Sentencing Law and Policy: Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof to have appeal of his death sentence heard by (unusual) Fourth Circuit panel typepad.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from typepad.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
COLUMBIA, S.C. â Defense lawyers will advance arguments Tuesday on up to 20 issues in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, as to why Dylann Roof was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to the death penalty in 2017 after a weekslong trial. They will ask the court to vacate both the conviction and the death penalty.
Those arguments will be countered by a team of prosecution appellate lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice. They seek to uphold the conviction and sentence.
Roof, 27, who grew up in Columbia, was sentenced to death in January 2017 by U.S. Judge Richard Gergel after a jury found him guilty of 18 death-eligible federal hate crimes and firearms charges in the Charleston church shooting. In a subsequent proceeding to determine sentence, the same jury ruled Roof deserved the death penalty. Gergel then pronounced the sentence.
Citizens excluded from serving on Michigan’s independent redistricting commission argued before an appeals panel that the state cannot draw arbitrary lines between levels of partisan activity to preclude eligibility.
An election worker helps a voter with his ballot in Lansing, Mich., on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020 (AP Photo/Matthew Dae Smith via Lansing State Journal)
CINCINNATI (CN) A group of Michigan citizens deemed ineligible for positions on a redistricting commission and the state’s Republican Party argued on Wednesday that eligibility criteria designed to reduce partisanship among committee members violate their constitutional rights.
The plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit came before the Sixth Circuit for a second time, after an interlocutory appeal was rejected in April 2020.
Appeals panel hears arguments again on constitutionality of redistricting commission
Republicans renewed arguments Wednesday that a 2018 constitutional amendment creating an independent citizens redistricting commission should be overturned because the rules governing who can serve on the commission are too restrictive.
Wednesday marked the second time a three-member Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard arguments on the constitutionality of the commission, which began meeting last year.
A year ago, the Michigan Republican Party, Michigan Freedom Fund executive director Tony Daunt and others were arguing for a preliminary injunction to stop the formation of the commission. They were denied in April by the appellate panel, which consisted of judges Karen Nelson Moore, Ronald Gilman and Chad Readler.
ED WHITE
DETROIT A Detroit-area man released from a life sentence because of the risk of COVID-19 has been ordered back to prison by a federal appeals court.
In a 2-1 decision, the court said returning John Bass to prison will not cause substantial harm while the government’s full appeal is considered.
Bass, 51, has been in jail or prison for the last 22 years. In 2003, he was convicted of drug crimes and murder and was a candidate for the federal death penalty. A jury instead chose a life sentence.
U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow acknowledged Bass’ “horrific” crimes but released him on Jan. 22, saying he deserved a “well-earned second chance” after getting an education in prison, becoming a certified life coach and other factors.