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A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 8 OcTOber 2019
Court seems ready to require unanimous juries as term opens

By MARK SHERMAN Louisiana Solicitor General
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Elizabeth Murrill, who ar-
Supreme Court began a gued that the state's court
potentially contentious system could be inundated
election-year term Mon- with claims if the justices
day in seeming general rule against Louisiana.
agreement that juries in A decision for defendant
state criminal trials must be Evangelisto Ramos would
unanimous to convict a de- result in his conviction being
fendant. overturned and also would
The justices took up a quirk affect defendants who are
of constitutional law, a still appealing their convic-
47-year-old ruling that re- tions. But the court is not
quires unanimity in federal, expected to say anything
but not state trials. Earlier about defendants whose
in the day, the court also cases are final. It would
wrestled with whether take another round of law-
states must allow criminal suits to figure that out.
defendants to plead insan- The case about an insan-
ity. ity defense comes from
The one minor surprise Kansas, where James Kraig
when the justices took the Kahler was sentenced
bench just after 10 o'clock In this June 17, 2019 file photo, The Supreme Court is seen in Washington. to death for killing his es-
was the absence of Jus- Associated Press tranged wife, two teenage
tice Clarence Thomas. The daughters and his wife's
71-year-old Thomas was at he wants to keep the court cases involving abortion, term for killing a woman grandmother.
home, likely with the flu, the clear of Washington par- protections for young immi- after a jury voted 10-2 to Kahler wanted to mount an
court said. tisan politics. The court is grants and LGBT rights, are convict him. Oregon is the insanity defense, but Kan-
Justice Ruth Bader Gins- beginning its second term likely to be handed down only other state that allows sas is one of four states that
burg was in her custom- with both of President Don- in late June, four months for non-unanimous convic- eliminated a defendant's
ary seat to the left of Chief ald Trump's Supreme Court before the election. tions for some crimes. ability to plead not guilty
Justice John Roberts. The appointees, Justices Neil Those cases probably will Louisiana voters have by reason of insanity. Ida-
86-year-old Ginsburg asked Gorsuch and Brett Kavana- highlight the divisions on changed the law for crimes ho, Montana and Utah are
the first question in the in- ugh, on board. a court made up of five committed beginning this the others. Alaska also limits
sanity arguments. The justices could be asked conservatives appointed year. the insanity defense.
Ginsburg was treated this to intervene in disputes be- by Republican presidents The court has formally held It was unclear how the
summer for a tumor on her tween congressional Dem- and four liberals named by that most of the Bill of Rights case would come out.
pancreas. ocrats and the White House Democrats. applies to states as well as Justice Elena Kagan sug-
Meeting for the first time that might also involve the But on Monday, conserva- the federal government, gested that even if Kahler
in public since late June, possible impeachment of tive and liberal justices ap- but it has not done so on were to win at the Supreme
the court opened a term the Republican president . peared to agree that the the Sixth Amendment's Court and could plead in-
that could reveal how far Roberts would preside over same rules should apply unanimous jury require- sanity, he ultimately would
to the right and how fast a Senate trial of Trump if the in federal and state trials. ment. not get a reprieve from his
the court's conservative House were to impeach They heard arguments in "What about the consti- conviction. In no state, she
majority will move, even him. an appeal by a Louisiana tutional rights of people said, "would your client be
as Roberts has made clear Its biggest decisions, in man who is serving a life in prison?" Gorsuch asked found insane."q

2 victims of 1944 circus fire exhumed in ID attempt

bodies Monday of two vic- Grace Fifield, of Newport, Only two of them could
tims of the 1944 Hartford Vermont, who was never possibly be Fifield — wom-
circus fire in the hopes of seen again after attending en buried under markers
determining whether one the Ringling Brothers and as 2109 and 4512, the case
of them is a woman who Barnum & Bailey Circus on numbers assigned by the
is among five people still July 6, 1944. Hartford County coroner.
listed as missing after the Officials will compare DNA "One of the key questions
tragedy. samples taken from the re- that medicolegal investiga-
The exhumations at North- mains to samples provided tors want to answer in any
wood Cemetery in Wind- by Fifield's granddaughter, death investigation is, who
sor, Connecticut, occurred Sandra Sumrow. A mes- are you?" said Dr. James
about 2 miles (3 kilometers) sage seeking comment Gill, the chief medical ex-
from the site of the big top was left for Sumrow on aminer. "Properly identify-
fire that killed 168 people Monday. ing remains has important
and injured 682 others. Fifield is one of five people legal ramifications, but the
In this July 6, 1944 file photo people flee a fire in the big top of
the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in Hartford, Forensic experts at the still listed as missing — and most important reason is to
Conn. Connecticut chief medi- the same number of un- confirm the identity for the
Associated Press cal examiner's office will identified victims are bur- next of kin."
try to determine whether ied at Northwood Cem- The skeletal remains of the
By DAVE COLLINS WINDSOR, Conn. (AP) — one of the two unidentified etery. Testing is needed to two victims were in cement
Associated Press Authorities exhumed the women was 47-year-old conclusively identify them. vaults, Gill said.q