Justice Thomas's jurisprudence is the subject of this article by Brent Kendall in the LA Daily Journal, available through How Appealing.

Grayson Execution
From The Montgomery Advisor an AP story, reports that Darrell Grayson was executed Thursday evening by lethal injection for the murder of 86-year-old widow Annie Laura Orr and pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.. The 46-year old Grayson had been adopted by activists as an example of the need for a state law mandating DNA testing for Death Row inmates. The Innocence Project, a New York-based nonprofit that represents the condemned, had argued that DNA tests not available at the time of Grayson's trial might have proved him innocent. The victim’s granddaughter, who witnessed the execution, wiped away tears and in a statement said, “The Orr family has seen the final chapter of a 27-year struggle.” More on this in yesterday’s News Scan.

Home Invasion Suspects on Parole Hit Other Homes, Prosecutors seeking the Death Penalty
The AP reported Thursday that Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, both on parole for non-violent crimes, could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Dr. William Petit’s wife and two daughters, then setting the house on fire. The Houston Chronicle has story today about the two suspects possibly being involved in two other burglaries in the area the night before. Two other homeowners who spoke with police said the suspects had burglarized them while they were sleeping. “We were within 24 hours of being that family,” said one of the victims of the burglaries.

CA Supreme Court overturns Inmates Death Sentence
The California Supreme Court, in a rare ruling, withdrew an inmate from death row after concluding that a new penalty phase is needed because there is now “substantial doubt” that he was the actual killer. The LA Times reports that the prosecution alleged that James Edward Hardy was hired by Mark Reilly (also convicted in 1983) to murder Reilly's wife and 8-year old son to collect insurance money. Hardy's lawyers presented evidence that a third man was the actual killer. The Supreme Court agreed that the evidence proved Hardy wasn't the actual killer but still guilty of murder for his active participation in planning it. In an opinion written by Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, she said that the new evidence "so undermines our confidence in the penalty verdict that a different, more favorable result was reasonably probable had this evidence been presented to the jury."