US ruling may save 800 on Death Row

The US Supreme Court threw out a lifeline to 168 convicted murderers facing execution yesterday, ruling that only juries and not judges should decide whether a defendant should be sentenced to death. Up to 800 Death Row cases may eventually be overturned.

The 7-2 decision, handed down by an unusual coalition of conservative and liberal justices, will affect at least five, and perhaps as many as nine, of the 38 states which apply capital punishment. Its retroactive nature means that any inmate sent to Death Row by a judge or a panel of judges will have that sentence overturned.

The ruling is based on the Supreme Court's belief that any sentence imposed by a judge violates a defendant's constitutional right to a trial by jury. The jury, and the jury alone, had to consider all the factors which might lead to a a death sentence.

In most US states, the jury deliberates twice in a capital case, once to determine guilt, then to decide whether a convicted individual should be sentenced to a long term or to death. But in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nebraska, a single judge or a panel of judges makes the second decision.

This means 168 people condemned to death in these five states will have their sentences reconsidered. It was not immediately clear whether yesterday's ruling would affect 629 more people on Death Row in four other states – Florida, Alabama, Indiana and Delaware – where the jury recommends life or death, and the final decision is left to the judge.

If so, the consequences could be momentous. Only Texas and California have more people on Death Row than Florida. If death sentences in all nine states are subjected to the new ruling, almost 800 murderers – more than a fifth of the entire US population on Death Row of 3,700 – could be given a new sentencing trial, or even see their sentences commuted.

Of itself, the new ruling does not address the constitutionality of the death penalty and there is no guarantee it will lead to a reduction in death sentences once jury sentencing becomes the norm.