A Supreme Court call for supplemental briefing raised hopes in some and fears in others that the court’s opinion in People v. McDaniel would make dramatic changes in California death penalty jurisprudence and lead to a wholesale voiding of capital sentences. (See here.) High-profile editorializing and amicus submissions soon followed. (See here and here.) But the unanimous decision affirming a death sentence last summer (People v. McDaniel (2021) 12 Cal.5th 97) turned out to be a rather run-of-the-mill affirmance (if any condemned prisoner’s appeal can ever be considered run-of-the-mill).
The defendant then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. His certiorari petition raised an issue other than those that were the subject of the required additional briefing. The additional briefing was about unanimity of verdicts on factually disputed aggravating circumstances and the burden of proof on the ultimate penalty determination (12 Cal.5th at p. 141), but the petition concerned a Batson claim, i.e., racial discrimination by the prosecution in jury selection.
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the certiorari petition.
