Supreme Court Ruling Grants Arizona Death Row Inmate John Montenegro Cruz Resentencing Due to Misinformation Provided to Jury

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that John Montenegro Cruz, an Arizona death row inmate, should be resentenced due to the fact that jurors in his case were wrongly told that the only way to ensure he would never walk free was to sentence him to death.

The 5-4 decision, in an opinion by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said Cruz should get a new penalty phase of his trial where it is made clear to jurors that he is ineligible for parole if he is sentenced to life in prison, instead of death. The ruling is important not only for Cruz, but also for other Arizona death row inmates whose juries received similar misinformation.

Cruz was convicted of the murder of a Tucson police officer in 2003 and sentenced to death. At his trial, as the jury was considering whether to impose a sentence of life or the death penalty, Cruz’s lawyer repeatedly asked if he could inform the jury that he would not be eligible for parole if he got a life sentence. The Supreme Court cited the fact that in 1994, the Supreme Court held in Simmons v. South Carolina that jurors must be informed of the parole eligibility of a defendant if the defendant requests it.

Arizona currently has approximately 100 people on its death row. The ruling in Cruz’s case is important for all of these inmates, as it sets a precedent for other cases in which jurors were given incorrect information. It also serves as a reminder that the Supreme Court is willing to review cases in which defendants were not given a fair trial.