Supreme Court Notebook

U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Rhoades' case BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider the case of Idaho death row inmate Paul Ezra Rhoades, effectively ending his appeals of his death sentence. Rhoades was convicted of three murders in Idaho Falls and Blackfoot in 1998 and sentenced to death for two of them. In his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, Rhoades said a lower court judge was wrong to refuse to have an evidentiary hearing on claims that his attorneys were ineffective when it came time to present evidence of mental illness during his sentencing. The ruling means Rhoades could become the first person executed in Idaho since 1994, and the only person to be involuntarily executed in the last half-century. Court won't hear appeal of Buddhist murders case WASHINGTON (AP) -- A man convicted of killing nine people at a Buddhist temple near Phoenix as a juvenile could go free after the Supreme Court refused to overturn a decision to throw out his confession. The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal by Arizona officials asking for a reexamination of a decision to throw out Jonathan Doody's confession. Doody was convicted of the slayings of six priests, a nun and two helpers during a robbery at a temple. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the conviction, saying his Miranda warnings were inadequate. The Supreme Court asked the federal appeals court to reexamine that decision last year, but the Ninth Circuit threw out the confession again earlier this year. The case is Ryan v. Doody, 11-175. Court won't hear NH presidential ballot question WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from the Libertarian Party over whether New Hampshire officials should have let 2008 Libertarian candidate Bob Barr be the party's sole candidate on the presidential ballot. The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from the party, which wanted Barr as the only candidate carrying its brand on the 2008 ballot. A second candidate, George Phillies, also petitioned his way onto the New Hampshire ballot under the Libertarian banner. Barr and the party sued, saying Barr should have been the only Libertarian candidate on that ballot. But the federal courts threw out the party's claim that Phillies' affiliation should have been removed because the national party didn't want his name on the ballot. The case is Libertarian Party v. Gardner, 11-119. Court won't hear appeal from Alamo followers WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from followers of evangelist Tony Alamo (uh-LAHM'-oh) who had their children taken away when they wouldn't agree not to expose them to the controversial ministry. The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from several Alamo followers, who sued the Arkansas Department of Human Services after their children were taken away in 2008. Prosecutors won sexual abuse convictions against Alamo in 2009. Social workers feared the children might someday be abused, and told the parents to break their financial dependence on Alamo's ministry. The parents refused. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the taking of the children was not a barrier to the parents' constitutional rights to practice religion. The case is Myers v. Arkansas Department of Social Services 11-126. U.S. court turns down Philly DA in cop-killing case WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request from prosecutors who want to re-impose a death sentence on former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing a white Philadelphia police officer 30 years ago. The justices on Tuesday refused to get involved in the racially charged case. A federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing for Abu-Jamal after finding that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial were potentially misleading. Courts have upheld Abu-Jamal's conviction for killing Officer Daniel Faulkner over objections that African-Americans were improperly excluded from the jury. The federal appeals court in Philadelphia said prosecutors could agree to a life sentence for Abu-Jamal or try again to sentence him to death. High court to decide double jeopardy question WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court will decide whether a jury forewoman's offhand comment that the jury was unable to make a decision on a murder charge means the suspect can't be retried on that charge. The high court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal from Alex Blueford, whose murder trial in Arkansas ended in a hung jury. The jury forewoman told the judge before he declared a mistrial that the jury had voted unanimously against capital murder and first-degree murder. Blueford argued that her statement means he has been acquitted of capital murder and first-degree murder -- because she said it in open court. He argued that he could not be retried because of Fifth Amendment double jeopardy protections. Arkansas courts have disagreed. The case is 10-1320, Blueford v. Arkansas. Court won't hear gay dads' birth certificate case WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a gay couple who want both of their names to appear on the Louisiana birth certificate of the child they adopted. The court said Tuesday it won't review a federal appeals court ruling against the adoptive parents. The appeals court ruled that the Louisiana registrar's insistence that only one father's name can go on the certificate does not violate the child's right to equal protection under the law or deny legal recognition of the adoption by both men. The adoption occurred in New York, which allows same-sex couples to adopt. Louisiana says its birth certificate policy reflects state law prohibiting adoption by unmarried couples, whether heterosexual or gay. Published: Wed, Oct 12, 2011