Amicus Brief with The Cato Institute & The MacArthur Justice Center

PJI filed an Amicus Brief with The Cato Institute and The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center asking the United State Supreme Court to decide whether juries rather than appointed judges must make findings to support death verdicts. Our Constitution promises that people are the conscience of the community.

Nebraska is one of only four jurisdictions that authorize a judge instead of a jury to make the findings necessary to the imposition of a sentence of death. The Amicus Brief addresses the emerging national consensus on the excessiveness of capital punishment and the importance of the central role of a jury in sentencing.

The Amicus asks the United States Supreme Court to consider whether the Sixth Amendment requires a jury rather than a panel of appointed judges make the requisite findings prior to the imposition of a death sentence.