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| Circuit Court grants new hearing for death row inmate |
| By Daily Nebraskan |
| Published: 09/09/2003 |
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In line with a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last week, the Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled that convicted murderer Raymond Mata Jr. be granted a new sentencing hearing by a jury. The ruling is the latest in a series of cases that attempt to clarify the gray areas of a U.S. Supreme Court decision made last year. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled only juries could decide if circumstances in a murder case merited the death penalty. The court did not say, however, whether the ruling was retroactive. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Nebraska, has not ruled on the issue of retroactivity, but the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled in July the ruling was not retroactive. Last week, the 9th circuit court overturned more than 100 death penalty sentences in Arizona, Idaho and Montana, because judges, not juries, decided whether circumstances in the cases merited the death penalty. Nebraska and Colorado also allowed judges to decide if aggravating circumstances were present in a murder case until the U.S. Supreme Court's 2002 ruling. In 2000, Mata was sentenced to death for the 1999 kidnapping and first-degree murder of 3-year-old Adam Gomez in Scottsbluff. Gomez was the son of Mata's former girlfriend. Sen. Philip Erdman of Bayard said the issue of retroactivity was a continuation of making sure the judicial system was enforceable and fair. 'The 9th circuit court's decision is not a surprise,' Erdman said. 'The retroactive cases will probably be decided on a case-by-case basis, but the state still has the obligation to carry out the sentences handed down by the courts. Erdman introduced a bill during a special legislative session last year that would change |
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