Supreme Court Adds Washington State Death Penalty Case

Supreme Court Adds Washington State Death Penalty Case

From Lyle Denniston's post at SCOTUS Blog:

Court to hear four more cases

Posted by Lyle Denniston at 01:34 PM

The Supreme Court on Friday added four new cases for its decision docket in the current Term, including a test of federal courts' authority to overturn a state trial judge's decision to remove a juror from a capital trial because of that juror's views about capital punishment. That case is Uttecht v. Brown (06-413, petition). During jury selection in this Washington State murder case, the trial judge dismissed a juror because of equivocal statements about the death penalty. After the Washington Supreme Court upheld that dismissal, the case went to federal habeas court, leading to a Ninth Circuit ruling that barring a juror is allowed only if it is clear that that juror would not follow the law. The order list can be found here.

And:

None of the cases was put on an expedited briefing schedule, so presumably they will be heard in the April sitting, which begins April 16.