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Judges and Judiciary

Mar. 25, 2004

'Summerlin' Will Let Court Overturn Unconstitutional Sentences

Forum Column - By Carlos A. Singer - Before the law reduced the case of Summerlin v. Stewart, 341 F.3d 1082 (9th Cir. 2003) (en banc), to an inquiry about retroactivity, there was Warren Wesley Summerlin and a bizarre collection of facts that would rival any television legal drama. An anonymous tip based on ESP led to his arrest for a brutal murder, his defense counsel slept with his prosecutor while his case was pending, and the judge might have been high when he sentenced Summerlin to death.

Carlos A. Singer

        Forum Column
        
        By Carlos A. Singer

        Before the law reduced the case of Summerlin v. Stewart, 341 F.3d 1082 (9th Cir. 2003) (en banc), to an inquiry about retroactivity, there wa...

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