Court to Review Death Sentences

The Arizona Supreme Court ordered new sentencing hearings for three death row inmates Thursday, hours after it said it planned to review the death sentences of 27 inmates to determine whether the men should be resentenced.

All 27 had wanted their convictions and sentences thrown out because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year. That ruling found Arizona’s death sentencing law unconstitutional because judges, not jurors, decided which facts could be considered during sentencing.

However, the state’s high court refused to issue a blanket order for new sentences, saying the trials were fundamentally fair and that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling didn’t require throwing out all of the sentences. But it said the Arizona court must review each case to determine whether individual circumstances require resentencings.

Prosecutors have argued it was a “harmless error” that juries did not decide aggravating factors in the cases.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the Arizona Legislature last summer rewrote the death penalty sentencing law to have juries decide the facts that should be considered and the sentence.

Among the 27 inmates under review were Aaron Hoskins, James Harrod and Darrell Pandeli. The court ordered new sentencing hearings for all three Thursday.