Death Penalty Missouri law allows a trial judge to sentence a convicted murderer to death if the jury deadlocks. Earlier this month a jury convicted Scott McLaughlin of first degree murder and separately found aggravating circumstances. After hanging on the sentence, the jurors were dismissed, leaving the trial judge to choose between LWOP or a death sentence. According to a story by William Lhotka in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, both the Attorney General's Office and the state Public Defender are uncertain if a death sentence from the judge will withstand a Sixth Amendment challenge.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument today on a Ninth Circuit ruling which overturned a federal conviction because the grand jury indictment did not allege an overt act toward carrying out the defendant's intent to illegally enter the United States after previously being deported. The defendant was subsequently convicted at trial on evidence that he used false identification to cross the U.S. border with Mexico, according to an Associated Press story by Mark Sherman. The case is United States v. Resendiz-Ponce, No. 05-998.
Update: The transcript is available here. It appears that the Supreme Court's review of this case is significantly complicated by the likelihood that the Ninth Circuit is wrong on the merits and there is nothing defective about this indictment, but the Government did not petition for certiorari on that question. On page 53, Justice Kennedy suggests that rebriefing may be in order to address the merits of the underlying question.

"The Innocent Man". Joshua Marquis reviews John Grisham's latest in the Wall Street Journal (subscription).