William Barr Has Made the Federal Death Penalty a Weapon in Trump’s Campaign Arsenal

AUSTIN SARAT

Austin Sarat—Associate Provost, Associate Dean of the Faculty, and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College—comments on Attorney General William Barr’s recent order to resume federal executions and the political implications of that order. Sarat briefly describes the history of the federal death penalty in the United States and explains that, regardless of what state we live in, when the federal government puts someone to death, it does so in all of our names.

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State v. Naeole

Docket: SCWC-18-0000381

Opinion Date: June 22, 2020

Judge: Michael D. Wilson

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

The Supreme Court vacated the opinion of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) vacating the circuit court's order granting Defendant's motion to suppress all evidence seized as a result of the execution of a search warrant, holding that the amount of time afforded to Defendant to respond to police officers' demand for entry was not reasonable. Police officers broke down Defendant's front door at approximately 6:15 a.m. after they knocked, announced their presence, and demanded entry four times within a twenty-five-second period. The officers had no reason to believe that Defendant was fleeing or that any evidence was being destroyed. Defendant, who was charged with drug offenses, filed a motion to suppress, arguing that the execution of the warrant violated Haw. Rev. Stat. 803-37 and Haw. Const. art. I, 7. The circuit court granted the motion to suppress. The ICA vacated their circuit court's order, concluding that Defendant was afforded a reasonable amount of time to respond to the police's demand for entry to serve the search warrant. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding (1) giving an occupant only twenty-five seconds to respond at such an early morning hour was unreasonable; and (2) there were no exigent circumstances that would have justified breaching the door earlier than would have otherwise been reasonable.

State v. Salavea

Docket: SCWC-16-0000386

Opinion Date: June 19, 2020

Judge: Richard W. Pollack

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

The Supreme Court vacated the Intermediate Court of Appeals' (ICA) judgment on appeal and the circuit court's amended judgment convicting Defendant of burglary in the first degree, holding that Defendant was denied the right to effective assistance at trial. On appeal, Defendant argued that her trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to adduce critical evidence impeaching the credibility of the State's key witness. The Supreme Court agreed and vacated Defendant's conviction, holding that, when viewed as a whole, the adequacy of counsel's representation was not within the range of competence demanded of counsel in criminal cases.

State v. Texeira

Docket: SCAP-18-0000632

Opinion Date: June 19, 2020

Judge: Richard W. Pollack

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence for murder in the second degree, holding that third party culpability evidence was erroneously excluded, but the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. On appeal, Defendant asserted (1) the trial court abused its discretion by excluding evidence tending to show that a third party committed the offense; (2) the trial court erred by admitting into evidence a confession letter allegedly written by Defendant because of its late disclosure to the defense; and (3) DNA results showing Defendant's presence at the crime scene were improperly admitted at trial. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the confession letter at trial because the timing of the State's disclosure did not require exclusion; (2) a sufficient foundation to admit the results of the DNA analyses was established to allow their admission into evidence; and (3) evidence of the third party's culpability was improperly excluded, but the exclusion was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

Estate Administrative Services LLC v. Mohulamu

Docket: SCWC-19-0000050

Opinion Date: June 19, 2020

Judge: Sabrina S. McKenna

Areas of Law: Landlord - Tenant, Legal Ethics

In this ejectment action, the Supreme Court granted Appellant's motion for in forma pauperis (IFP) status on appeal, vacated the Intermediate Court of Appeals' (ICA) order dismissing appeal, and remanded this case to the ICA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion, holding that the ICA abused its discretion in ordering Appellant to file IFP motions in the district court, in denying Appellant's second IFP motion based on Haw. Rev. Stat. 607-3 and Haw. R. App. P. 24, and then in dismissing her appeal. Appellant, a self-represented defendant in a residential ejectment case, appealed a judgment and writ of possession filed by the district court. Appellant filed two motions to proceed IFP. The ICA denied both motions and ordered Appellant either to file an IFP motion in the district court within ten days or pay the filing fees in full. When Appellant did neither, the ICA dismissed Appellant's appeal. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that when courts have discretion in applying court rules or statutes, they must consider the access to justice principle of reducing barriers to the civil justice system for self-represented litigants.