The Supreme Court grappled with the case of an Arizona death row inmate on April 17 who claims that he received ineffective assistance from counsel during the sentencing process.
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant the right to effective assistance of counsel. At issue in this case is whether a federal appeals court properly weighed the evidence—both mitigating and aggravating as to the inmate—before ruling that respondent Danny Lee Jones was prejudiced by an ineffective attorney during sentencing.
