FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2008
Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter Seeks to Uphold Convicted Child Molester Christopher Stevens’ Death Penalty Sentence
Carter has asked the United States Supreme Court to Review the Case
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter has filed a Petition of Writ of Certiorari with the United State’s Supreme Court seeking a review of an appellate ruling that granted convicted child molester Christopher Stevens a new sentencing phase for his 1995 murder conviction of 10-year old Zachary Snider of Cloverdale, Indiana.
“There is a strong court record upholding the conviction and the sentence of this convicted child molester and we believe the federal appellate court findings erroneously veered outside the scope of its required analysis,” Carter said.
Stevens was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of 10-year old Zachary Snider. Stevens’ conviction and sentence has been upheld throughout the state and appellate process for the last fourteen years. The Seventh Circuit ruled that Stevens’ defense counsel should have pursued more mental health experts and evidence.
The state argues in its brief that:
“To be sure, once counsel learned of (the defense psychologists) findings, they knew that (his) testimony would not be as helpful as they had initially hoped. But the various circuits have long understood that such dissatisfaction does not entitle defendants to ‘shop around for a psychiatrist willing to testify to the presence of more elaborate or grave psychological disorders.’ Counsel is not required to ‘continue looking for experts just because the one he has consulted gave an unfavorable opinion.”’
The brief continues to conclude:
“Finally, the decision below ignored the state court’s prejudice analysis and failed to accord it the appropriate deference. The state courts explained that Stevens suffered no prejudice from any of counsel’s potential errors in developing and presenting mental health evidence because the objective facts of the crime and Stevens’ own confession ‘strongly contradict’ the notion that he was insane or impaired at the time of the crime.”
The United States Supreme Court is expected to decide whether or not to accept the case by the end of its current term in June.
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