WASHINGTON (CN) — A Pennsylvania judge who helped put a man on death row in his previous role as a prosecutor should have recused himself when that inmate's appeal came up, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Capital sentences remain suspended in Pennsylvania under a 2015 moratorium imposed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, but Terrance Williams was in his third decade on death row for a 1984 murder when he won a stay of execution on the basis of false testimony and suppressed evidence.
At trial, the prosecutor argued that 18-year-old Williams had killed 56-year-old Amos Norwood, bludgeoning him to death and setting him on fire, "for no other reason but that a kind man offered him a ride home."
This did not come into question until 2012 when a friend of Williams who participated in the fatal beating revealed that Williams and Norwood had been in a sexual relationship.
Marc Draper said the prosecution promised to write a letter to the parole board on his behalf if he gave false testimony at Williams' trial.
Though the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas granted Williams a new sentencing hearing, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated that stay.
The court's vote had been unanimous, but the participation of Chief Justice Ronald Castille drew Williams' objection.
Back when Williams was on trial, Castille had been the Philadelphia district attorney. Castille did not prosecute the case himself, but he did approve the request for the death penalty.
The chief justice gave no explanation meanwhile as to why he refused to recuse himself from Williams' appeal.
His concurring opinion in the case blasted the lower court for having "lost sight of its role as a neutral judicial officer" under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), and for staying Williams' execution "for no valid reason."
Castille had campaigned for his seat on the court by openly advocating for capital punishment, citing the 45 people he sent to death row while he served as district attorney - including Williams.
His concurring opinion denounced the Federal Community Defender Office for its "obstructionist anti-death penalty agenda," saying such advocacy would turn postconviction proceedings "into a circus where [they] are the ringmasters, with their parrots and puppets as a sideshow."
Castille retired two weeks later.
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed for Williams 5-3 today, saying due process had compelled Castille's recusal.
"Chief Justice Castille's significant, personal involvement in a critical decision in Williams's case gave rise to an unacceptable risk of actual bias," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. "This risk so endangered the appearance of neutrality that his participation in the case 'must be forbidden if the guarantee of due process is to be adequately implemented.'"
Though the commonwealth said Philadelphia's former DA had played "a mere ministerial role in capital sentencing decisions," Kennedy said Castille's "own comments while running for judicial office refute [this] claim."
"Chief Justice Castille's willingness to take personal responsibility for the death sentences obtained during his tenure as district attorney indicate that, in his own view, he played a meaningful role in those sentencing decisions and considered his involvement to be an important duty of his office," the ruling states.