The Supreme Court today rejected attempts by two defendants to stop their trials in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. They argued that they can’t receive fair penalty hearings while Governor Gavin Newsom’s moratorium on executions is in force because a jury wouldn’t believe its verdict could result in an actual execution.
In Johnson v. Superior Court and Harris v. Superior Court, the court earlier had asked for answers to the defendants’ petitions for review and also stayed superior court proceedings in Harris’s case. Today the court summarily denied both petitions.
