Ward v. State

In this death-penalty case, the Supreme Court denied Petitioner’s request to recall the mandate for his resentencing in Ward v. State, 1 S.W.3d 1, 3 (1998) (Ward III), holding that Petitioner failed to meet the standard for the Court to recall the mandate in Petitioner’s resentencing.After the governor set Petitioner’s execution date, Petitioner filed a motion to recall the mandate in this matter and stay of execution until the United States Court issued its opinion in McWilliams v. Dunn, 137 S. Ct 1790 (2017). Petitioner argued that McWilliams had a direct impact on his claim pursuant to Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68 (1985), and that the Court should overrule precedent holding that a competency evaluation at the Arkansas State Hospital satisfies Ake. The Supreme Court granted the stay of execution, took the motion as a case, and then denied Petitioner’s motion, holding (1) McWilliams did not develop new law or change the standard pursuant to Ake; and (2) based on law-of-the-case doctrine, Petitioner’s arguments provided no basis for granting his motion to recall the mandate in his resentencing. View "Ward v. State" on Justia Law