BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court Vacates ANOTHER Arizona Death Sentence; Although This Time, Without Scolding Arizona Supreme Court

The benches for the U.S. Supreme Court Justices are barely warm today as they begin their new term, but they have again taken aim at Arizona, vacating another death sentence and sending the case back to Maricopa County Superior Court.

Without any noted dissents, the Justices summarily vacated the death sentence given to Manuel Ovante for one of his 2008 killings (while he and his friends were looking for meth). He pled to the murders after a judge told him he could be eligible for parole if he was sentenced to life. The sentencing jury was later told that, too, and then decided to impose a death penalty. By law, he would not have been eligible for parole. The Arizona Supreme Court decided that that incorrect information did not make Ovante's guilty plea involuntary.

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated two similar Arizona death penalties earlier this year, including strong rebukes of the Arizona Supreme Court for ignoring its similar instructions in a 2016 opinion. 

For more on the earlier 5-4 Opinion, Cruz, please see our previous article, "U.S. Supreme Court OVERTURNS Arizona Death Sentence For a Tucson Cop Killer, Again Criticizes Arizona Supreme Court". For that article, former Acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal told Arizona's Law that we "believe Arizona must be far more careful in how the death penalty is administered." (Katyal represented the Petitioner pro bono.)

Today's decision undoes Ovante's death sentence, and refers back to the February Cruz case.

The Justices could have proceeded with the case to again rebuke Arizona courts. However, the Arizona Supreme Court's decision not to consider Ovante's appeal was in November 2022, so the U.S. Supreme Court obviously did not want to gratuitously issue another scolding 

This article was reported by AZ Law founder Paul Weich. 

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