USA-COURT/DISCRIMINATION (PIX): US Supreme Court gives a boost to a woman who claimed murder conviction tainted by ‘sexist stereotyping.’
WASHINGTON, – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a boost to a female Oklahoma death row inmate who claimed her 2004 conviction for murdering her estranged husband was tainted by what her lawyers called “sexist stereotyping” by prosecutors who presented to the jury evidence about her sex life and revealing clothing.
In an unsigned opinion, justices rejected a decision by a lower court dismissing an inmate’s claim that she was denied the right to due process in the U.S. Constitution because the evidence presented to incriminate her at her trial was irrelevant and prejudicial.
A jury convicted her of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder in the 2001 shooting death of her husband, Robert Andrew, at their Oklahoma City home. Her convicted co-conspirator and lover, a life insurance agent named James Pavatt, was sentenced to death as well.
Prosecutors during her trial presented evidence that she attempted to benefit from her husband’s $800,000 life insurance policy that Pavatt had helped arrange. She has denied any role in her husband’s murder.
