Biden Commutes Sentences, Supreme Court Orders Review of Woman's Case, Sparking Controversy

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Biden Commutes Sentences, Supreme Court Orders Review of Woman's Case, Sparking Controversy

President Biden has commuted the sentences of most federal death row inmates to life without parole. This decision comes after years of debate over the death penalty, with many arguing that it is cruel and unusual punishment.

The Supreme Court has also weighed in on the death penalty, ordering lower courts to review the case of the only woman on Oklahoma's death row. The court ruled that prosecutors' discussion of her sexual history may have rendered her trial unfair.

Justice Clarence Thomas, however, wrote that the state produced overwhelming evidence that the woman participated in her husband's murder and would have left the conviction and death sentencing in place. He argued that the discussion of her sexual history was relevant because she described herself as a "good mother" as part of her defense.

Lawyers for the woman argued that the state had a circumstantial case that it buttressed by presenting evidence about "her sexual history, gender presentation, demeanor, and motherhood." They said that the prosecution relentlessly derided her, using sexually-charged descriptions to cast her in the role of an unchaste wife.

A dissenting judge on the 10th Circuit wrote that the evidence rendered the trial unfair. He said that the court focused "from start to finish on Ms. Andrew's sex life," which he said had taken away "any realistic chance that the jury would seriously consider her version of events.