Tomorrow morning, the Supreme Court will file its opinion in People v. Lucas, an automatic appeal from a September 1989 judgment of death. Lucas was argued on the court’s late-May calendar.
After the decision in Lucas, there will remain two late-May cases without opinions, both of which — like Lucas — are death penalty appeals: People v. Grimes and People v. Bryant, Smith, and Wheeler. In Grimes, after oral argument, the court vacated submission of the case and ordered supplemental briefing, resubmitting the matter on July 24 when the supplemental briefing was complete, thus giving the court until late October to file an opinion within the 90-day rule. For Bryant, Smith, and Wheeler, however, you can expect to see an opinion on Monday, the court’s last regular opinion-filing day before the 90 days runs out for that case.
The Lucas opinion can be viewed tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.
