Messer v. Zant
Headline: Court denies a request to pause a death sentence and refuses review, letting the execution proceed while two Justices dissent and say the defendant had ineffective counsel.
Holding: The Court denied the application to stay a death sentence and declined to hear the case on review, leaving the lower-court result in place while two Justices dissented.
- Allows execution to proceed because the stay request was denied and review refused.
- Leaves the lower-court decision intact while the Supreme Court declines review.
- Two Justices assert the defendant showed ineffective counsel and would have vacated sentence.
Summary
Background
An application asking the Court to pause a death sentence was presented to Justice Kennedy and sent to the full Court; the request for a stay was denied and the Court also refused to take the case. The person facing the death sentence (called the petitioner in the opinion) sought both a pause of the execution and Supreme Court review, but the Court declined both requests.
Reasoning
The central question here was whether the Supreme Court should halt the execution and review the lower-court decision. The Court declined to do so, and the short opinion records only that the stay and the petition for review were denied. Two Justices, Marshall and Brennan, strongly disagreed. Justice Marshall wrote that he would have granted the stay and the petition and would have vacated the death sentence. He explained that, in his view, the defendant met the legal standard for ineffective assistance of counsel during sentencing and thus would not be left facing execution.
Real world impact
Because the Court denied the stay and refused review, the lower-court outcome stands and the execution may proceed unless other relief is obtained. The Supreme Court’s action here is a refusal to intervene, not a decision on the underlying merits of the ineffective-counsel claim. The dissent highlights a vigorous disagreement over whether the defendant’s trial counsel failed during sentencing.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Marshall, joined by Justice Brennan, reiterated his long-held view that the death penalty is always cruel and unusual and said he would vacate the sentence; he also stated that the defendant satisfied the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel during sentencing.
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