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A federal appeals court has reversed the death sentence of an African-American Georgia death-row prisoner who was represented at trial by a defense lawyer notorious for his history of substandard representation and racial bias in death-penalty cases. On April 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed the ruling of a federal district court and overturned the death sentence imposed on Willie James Pye (pictured). In a unanimous but unpublished opinion, the appeals court held that Pye’s court-appointed lawyer, Johnny B. Mostiler, provided ineffective representation in ...

The Obama appointee urged lower courts to consider alternatives to searches that she called degrading and inhumane, while also dissenting over a man’s shackling in a trial that sent him to death row. Sonia Sotomayor begins Senate confirmation hearings on July 13, 2009. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Congress via Courthouse News) WASHINGTON (CN) —  Announcing the Supreme Court’s rejection of a case where jail officials searched the anus and vagina of an accused shoplifter, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she did not turn down the case lightly but that the issue requires more input from other cour...