WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday a previous high-court decision requiring juries to determine liability for the death sentence is not retroactive.
The precedent would still apply to appeals that are ongoing, just not to those that have already become final on direct appellate review.
The decision frees up scores of death sentences to proceed across the country.
In the case before the court, Warren Summerlin was convicted of first-degree murder in Arizona. He was sentenced to death under a procedure then in place in Arizona that allowed the judge alone to make the decision of whether a death penalty was applicable to the case.
While that death penalty was being appealed, the Supreme Court ruled in Apprendi vs. New Jersey juries must decide on the aggravating circumstances that lead to capital punishment. In Ring vs. Arizona, the Supreme Court ruled juries must determine whether the death penalty is applicable.
A federal appeals court threw out Summerlin's death penalty based on Ring, but the Supreme Court reversed.
