An update on a remarkable capital case
Earlier this month, I discussed here the remarkable ruling of the Ohio Supreme Court in State v. Yarbrough, 104 Ohio St.3d 1, 2004-Ohio-6087 (Dec. 1, 2004) (available here). In Yarbrough, a unanimous court’s concluded it was compelled to reverse a death sentence imposed in the gruesome murders of two Ohio college students for lack of jurisdiction because the murders were committed in Pennsylvania.
Following up that post, I was recently contacted by Chris Muha, a Yale Law School student who is the older brother of Brian Muha, one of the students murdered 5 years ago by Terrell Yarbrough. Chris asked for my feedback and opinion on the motion for reconsideration being filed in the case. Because I am not an expert on such jurisdictional issues, I could not help Chris directly, but I did offer to share the motion in this forum.
In addition to the motion for reconsideration, Chris himself prepared a helpful synopsis of the motion, both of which you can download below. In the synopsis, Chris says he would be “grateful to everyone who offers their reflections here and helps me think through these issues, regardless of what your thoughts are.” You can use the comments for such reflections, or e-mail Chris at cmuha@rocketmail.com.