Cruz v. Arizona (Feb 22, 2023) (Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 32.1(g), Lynch II, Capital Case Sentencing)

Audio of NEW OPINION: Cruz v. Arizona (Feb 22, 2023)

 

In 2005, John Montenegro Cruz was sentenced to death after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for killing a Tucson police officer in 2003. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed, and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. In 2012, the state court dismissed Cruz’s petition for post-conviction relief and the Arizona Supreme Court denied review.

In 2014, Cruz initiated federal habeas proceedings, which were still ongoing when SCOTUS decided Lynch v. Arizona (Lynch II) in 2016, which held that the Arizona Supreme Court had misapplied precedent. Now, normally, it would have been hopeless for Cruz to file a second petition for post-conviction relief, but for an exception in Arizona law that a “significant change in the law” could intervene in his favor. So, Cruz filed that second petition, arguing that the Lynch II decision was indeed a significant change in the law, that it was retroactive, and that it just might overturn his sentence.

The Arizona Supreme Court disagreed, and the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether the Arizona Supreme Court’s holding that Lynch II was not a significant change in the law under Arizona’s rules of criminal procedure Rule 32.1(g) is an adequate and independent state-law ground for the judgment.

 

Music by Epidemic Sound