Ward v. State

In this capital murder case, the Supreme Court denied Petitioner’s motion to recall the mandate in Ward v. State, 1 S.W.3d 1, 3 (Ark. 1999) (Ward III), holding that Petitioner was not entitled to an independent defense expert to aid in his defense regarding his competency.At his 1997 resentencing, Petitioner was sentenced to death for a third time. The Supreme Court affirmed his sentence on appeal in Ward III. Now before the court, Petitioner filed a motion to recall the mandate in Ward III, asserting that he was entitled to an independent mental health expert under Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68 (1985). The Supreme Court took the motion as a case and entered a stay of execution. After the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in McWilliams v. Dunn, 137 S. Ct. 1790 (2017), the Arkansas Supreme Court denied the motion and lifted the stay of execution, holding (1) pursuant to the law-of-the-case doctrine, Petitioner’s arguments provided no basis for granting his motion to recall the mandate in his re sentencing; and (2) there was no merit to Petitioner’s arguments that this court misinterpreted Ake or that McWilliams altered or expanded the standard required by Ake. View "Ward v. State" on Justia Law