California High Court Reverses Death Sentence, Questions Defendant's Ability to Act as Own Attorney
(Subscription required) California’s Supreme Court on Monday reversed a 26-year-old death penalty sentence, concluding that a trial judge should not have allowed a defendant suspected of mental incompetence to represent himself in the penalty phase. The unanimous court held that a California legal standard adopted in 2012—well after a jury sentenced Jeffery Lee Hronis to death—outlining when a judge can deny defendants’ requests to act as their own attorneys is retroactive.
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