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| Condemned Murderer Sentence Set Aside |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/22/2001 |
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A federal appeals court set aside an Arizona death row inmate's sentence, ruling the condemned murderer is entitled to hearings on whether the marijuana addiction of the judge who oversaw his trial tainted the outcome. The decision could affect hundreds of criminal cases tried before the Maricopa County judge, who was thrown off the bench after a 20-year career for a marijuana conviction. The recent ruling concerns Warren Summerlin, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 1981 slaying of Brenna Bailey, 36. Summerlin was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to death for murder and to 28 years in prison for sexual assault. The Arizona Supreme Court and lower federal courts upheld Summerlin's conviction and sentence. But a divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the condemned man is entitled to hearings on whether the trial judge was high on marijuana when he decided to have Summerlin executed. Under Arizona law, after a capital offender is convicted, a judge has sole discretion whether to sentence the defendant to death. Judge Philip Marquardt presided over Summerlin's trial. Marquardt pleaded guilty in 1991 to marijuana possession after being arrested in Texas. He was removed from the bench and disbarred. Marquardt, who at the time admitted he was suffering from an addiction to the drug, has denied he was impaired when deciding Summerlin's case. In dissent, Judge Alex Kozinski said 'there is no proof whatever'' that the judge was 'incoherent or intoxicated'' while presiding over Summerlin's case. Kozinski added that Summerlin's case could affect hundreds of cases tried before Marquardt's 20-year judicial career. |
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