![]() When Burns was 22 years old, he was part of a group of six young men that confronted and robbed another group of four young men sitting in a car. I respectfully dissent from the Court’s failure to do so. I would summarily vacate the error-laden (and precedential) decision below and remand for further consideration of Burns’ claim. The Court, however, declines to intervene. Burns asks this Court to take summary action to correct these fundamental legal errors so that his claim may be fairly considered before the State executes him. From there, the Sixth Circuit concluded that the claim must fail because this Court has never established a right to introduce residual doubt evidence at sentencing.īurns argues, and the State does not contest, that the Sixth Circuit’s analysis turned on two erroneous legal assumptions and clearly conflicts with several decisions of this Court. The Sixth Circuit avoided this obvious conclusion only by mischaracterizing Burns’ claim as being about counsel’s failure to introduce residual doubt evidence ( i.e., evidence that Burns was not, in fact, guilty of felony murder). ![]() Evidence that Burns did not pull the trigger, however, was plainly relevant to the jury’s determination whether to sentence him to death. Such evidence does not bear on Burns’ guilt, since his participation in the underlying robbery suffices to render him guilty of felony murder. Burns asserts that counsel failed to present mitigating evidence tending to show that he did not shoot either of the two victims killed during a robbery in which he participated. §2254 petition claiming inadequate assistance of counsel at the penalty phase of his trial. Petitioner Kevin Burns, a defendant sentenced to death for felony murder, brought a 28 U. S. C. Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson join, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. ![]() The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
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