Justices Split Over Defendants' Right To Mental Health Expert Witnesses
Justice Anthony Kennedy appears likely to cast the deciding vote in a Supreme Court case involving a death row inmate's right to help from a mental health expert who is independent of the prosecution.
As a hurry-up execution schedule plays out in Arkansas this week, the U.S. Supreme Court and Arkansas Supreme Court have stepped in to block two of the eight executions initially scheduled for an 11-day period.
Those two cases are on hold pending the outcome of a case from Alabama argued in the Supreme Court on Monday.
At issue is whether an indigent defendant whose sanity is a significant factor at his trial is entitled to an expert witness, independent of the prosecution, paid for with money from the state.
The case tests the meaning of an 8-to-1 Supreme Court decision in 1985, called , which
