Death Penalty Jurors Don't Need Sermon, Court Says.A federal appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. has voided void·ed adj. Heraldry Having the central area cut out or left vacant, leaving an outline or narrow border: a voided lozenge. the death sentence of a convicted murderer, holding that the prosecuting attorney had no right to tell the jury that God supports capital punishment capital punishment, imposition of a penalty of death by the state. History Capital punishment was widely applied in ancient times; it can be found (c.1750 B.C.) in the Code of Hammurabi. . The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voided the death sentence imposed on Alfred Sandoval, who was found guilty of murdering four people in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. in 1984. During the sentencing phase of Sandoval's trial, the prosecuting attorney argued that imposing a death sentence would be "doing what God says." "This might be the only opportunity to wake him up," the prosecutor told jury members. "God will destroy the body to save the soul. Make him get himself right." Reuters News Agency reported that the jury, which had been deadlocked on imposing capital punishment, later returned a death sentence. In its 2-1 Sandoval v. Calderon ruling, the appeals court held the prosecutor's argument was "improper and highly prejudicial" and asserted that jury members should not be urged to put "an asserted higher law higher law n. A moral or religious principle that takes precedence over the constitutions or statutes of society. Noun 1. higher law - a principle that takes precedent over the laws of society " before the concerns of secular law. |
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