The Supreme Court today reverses the death sentence in People v. Woodruff. The court’s unanimous opinion by Justice Ming Chin affirms the defendant’s conviction for murdering one police officer and the attempted murder of another, but concludes the penalty cannot stand because the superior court erroneously excluded a prospective juror. The juror was bumped based solely on his anti-death penalty responses to a juror questionnaire, when, the court holds, his ability to follow the law despite his personal views should have been explored during voir dire.
The court rejects numerous other appellate arguments the defendant raised, including that the superior court should have found him incompetent to stand trial, that there were serious problems with his representation by a pro bono attorney who substituted in for a public defender (the superior court found that the attorney’s performance, “while poor, did not rise to the level of ‘flagrant ineffective assistance’”), and that the superior court improperly denied Batson/Wheeler motions (see here) challenging the prosecution’s removal of three African-American prospective jurors.