The U.S. Supreme Court granted review, vacated the judgment and sent the case of Alabama Death Row inmate Bart Johnson back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that Florida’s sentencing program that allows judicial override in death penalty cases was unconstitutional. Alabama has a similar sentencing program.
The court didn’t vacate Johnson’s death sentence, said Professor Jenny Carroll. What it did was vacate the Alabama court’s affirmation of the death sentence and asked that court to reconsider its decision in light of the Hurst v. Florida ruling, she said.
For more, read “U.S. Supreme Court Vacates Judgment in Case of Man Who Killed Pelham Police Officer.”