In Cain v. Chappell, the Ninth Circuit yesterday affirmed a district court’s denial of habeas corpus relief to a death row inmate. Twenty-two years ago, the California Supreme Court affirmed the inmate’s death sentence on direct automatic appeal. (People v. Cain (1995) 10 Cal.4th 1.) Justice Kathryn Werdegar authored the court’s opinion for herself and five other justices; Justice Stanley Mosk wrote a concurring opinion.
Last month, the Ninth Circuit similarly supported a Supreme Court death penalty affirmance, only that time it did so by reversing a district court’s grant of a habeas petition.
Additional fact: the district court judge who denied the habeas corpus petition four years ago was Audrey Collins, who is now a California Court of Appeal Justice on Division Four of the Second District.
