Victim Impact Evidence Appeal Denied: An AP story reports that the Supreme Court turned down appeals from death row inmates seeking to limit videos and similar material prepared by murder victims' families for juries. The appeal comes from two California cases in which jurors were shown video mixes of the victims' lives. The defendants' claimed that the videos were unfairly prejudicial and violated their right to a fair trial. The Supreme Court has held that juries can hear victim impact testimony in the penalty phase of capital cases, but it has not said whether certain testimony should be barred as prejudicial. The videos consisted of photographs of both victims, including baby pictures and pictures of the victims' graves. The California Supreme Court had upheld the convictions and death sentences in both Kelly v. California and Zamudio v. California, 07-11425. Kent also has this post on today's orders. This September post also discussed the Supreme Court's review of Kelly v. California.

Ex-Judge Becomes Court-Appointed Attorney and Requests To Spare Killer's Life: From the Houston Chronicle, Allan Turner reports that retired state District Judge Jay Burnett has filed a petition that a killer's death sentence be commuted to life in prison. George Whitaker is sentenced to die on Wednesday for the 1994 murder of 17-year-old Shakeitha Carrier. He also shot his girlfriend's mother, leaving her right hand permanently disabled. He then attacked his girlfriend's sisters, killing one and leaving the 5-year-old with brain injuries. In his petition, Judge Burnett argued that his client was unjustly condemned because the presiding trial judge prohibited the jury from being told that a life sentence in the case would have required the killer to serve 40 years before becoming eligible for parole. He also argued that although brutal, Whitaker's crime did not meet death penalty criteria because prosecutors did not prove the murder occurred during the commission of a felony.

Attorney Seeks New Trial For Convicted Killer: Erin Hartness from WRAL news reports that a Virginia attorney said he plans to file a motion Wednesday seeking a new trial for convicted killer Mike Peterson. Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2001 for the death of his wife, Kathleen. Attorney Jason Anthony said prosecutors withheld evidence during Peterson's 2003 murder trial, violating a judge's order and the state's laws regarding evidentiary discovery in criminal trials. The allegedly suppressed evidence was a tire iron found by a neighbor. It was tested by the prosecutors but never shared with the defense attorneys. Anthony said that knowing about the tire iron would have considerably changed the defense.