|
Bigby v. Dretke 402 F.3d 551 (5th Cir. 2005), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard a case appealed from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (trial court) on the issue of the instructions given to a jury in death penalty sentencing. The decision took into account the recent United States Supreme Court decisions concerning the relevance of mitigating evidence in sentencing, as in ''Penry v. Lynaugh''. ==Facts of the case== On December 24, 1987, Grace Kehler returned home in Fort Worth, Texas to find Michael Trekell, with whom she lived, and their infant son dead, the deaths being homicides as determined by forensic investigators. On December 26, 1987, Fort Worth police were called to a Fort Worth motel where a police standoff occurred. Later the defendant, James Bigby, surrendered without incident. He gave a written statement to the police confessing to the murders two days later. Bigby was charged with the murder of the male victim and of drowning the man's infant son, both of whom he knew. The mother of the murdered infant identified Bigby as being with her son just prior to his death.〔 At the trial, Bigby used the insanity defense with several psychiatrists testifying to his mental illness. One testified that Bigby suffered from an intractable paranoid schizophrenia with paranoid delusions that prevented him from distinguishing between right and wrong, and concluded that Bigby committed the murders as a direct result of his mental illness.〔 〕 During a trial recess, Bigby removed a gun from the unoccupied bench of the judge in the courtroom, went to the judge's chambers and aimed the gun at the judge's head, saying "Let's go", after which Bigby was subdued by the judge. The defense made a motion for a mistrial and requested the judge's recusal from the case. Both defense motions were denied. The judge testified in an administrative hearing that Bigby's assault had not biased him against Bigby and the trial was allowed to continue. After the defense rested its case, the judge allowed the rebuttal by the state to introduce testimony regarding Bigby's stealing the gun and threatening the judge, portraying the incident as attempted escape, and further saying this was evidence that Bigby was conscious of his guilt and therefore not eligible for the insanity defense.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Appeal from The United States District Court from the Northern District of Texas - Bigby v. Dertke ) 〕 After the conclusion of the trial, the jury rejected Bigby's insanity defense. The jury's verdict found Bigby guilty of capital murder in a double homicide and imposed the death penalty. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bigby v. Dretke」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|