No. 18-1109October Term 2019Decided Feb 25, 2020
McKinney v. Arizona
This death penalty case asked what Arizona had to do after a federal habeas court ruled that the state had failed to properly consider James McKinney’s mitigating evidence, including his PTSD, at sentencing.
Case status
- Current stage
- Decided
- Latest event
- Decision released Feb 25, 2020
- What it's about
This death penalty case asked what Arizona had to do after a federal habeas court ruled that the state had failed to properly consider James McKinney’s mitigating evidence, including his PTSD, at sentencing. The issue was whether the Arizona Supreme Court could fix that error by reweighing the aggravating and mitigating evidence itself, or whether McKinney had to receive a new jury sentencing proceeding under current law.
Question presented
1. Whether the Arizona Supreme Court was required to apply current law when weighing mitigating and aggravating evidence to determine whether a death sentence is warranted? 2. Whether the correction of error under Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104 (1982), requires resentencing?
- Case path
Supreme Court of Arizona / Decision released Feb 25, 2020
- Area
Criminal Procedure
Timing
Decided February 25, 2020
The Court released its decision on February 25, 2020 without hearing oral argument.
Related cases
Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Methodology