A federal court in Massachusetts became the first federal court in this country to rule that capital defendants must be provided separate juries at the guilt and sentencing phases of their trials. Judge Nancy Gertner held that "updated data presented by defendants in this case overwhelmingly showsthat death-qualified jurors are significantly more conviction-pronethan jurors who are not death-qualified." Thus, a defendant’s right to a fair trial requires that those jurors determining guilt are not death-qualified as sentencing jurors are required to be.
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Mark Godsey