PRESS RELEASE

Today the Ninth Circuit, in a narrowly divided 6-5 decision, overturned a death sentence based on jury instructions given at the sentencing hearing and previously approved by the United States Supreme Court. The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a victims-rights organization in Sacramento, California, criticized the decision as wrong and in direct contravention of existing case law.

"The United States Supreme Court sanctioned these exact instructions 12 years ago," said CJLF Legal Director Kent Scheidegger. "Unbelievably, the Ninth Circuit is now saying, 'no, these instructions aren't good enough.'"

The case, Payton v. Woodford, is predicated on the crimes of murderer William Payton, who stabbed his sleeping victim 12 times, then raped her as she lay bleeding and dying. Payton then attempted to murder the victim's housemate and her small son, stabbing the housemate 40 times and the child 23 times. Miraculously, these other two survived.

The trial jury found Payton guilty on all counts. At the sentencing hearing, the defense brought in 8 witnesses who testified that Payton had become a devout Christian during his time in prison and that he was a changed man of utmost character. The prosecutor told the jury that he didn't think Payton's religious conversion came under any of the statutory mitigating factors.

The sentencing judge then gave the model jury instructions exactly as they were written. These are the same jury instructions that the United States Supreme Court upheld in Boyde v. California in 1990. Upon considering all the evidence and testimony, the jury then sentenced the defendant to death.

On appeal, Payton argued that it was prejudicial error for the judge not to include in the jury instructions a statement about considering Payton's dramatic behavioral changes while in prison. The California Supreme Court rejected this argument and affirmed the sentence in 1992. A 3-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit also rejected his argument. However, a larger 11-judge panel reversed Payton's sentence today.

"This is yet another example of the Ninth Circuit wrongly overturning a correct death sentence," said Scheidegger. "This is why we do not have a death penalty in CA."