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WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2002

The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for the state of Tennessee to execute a man who claimed he was the victim of bad lawyering.

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Gary Bradford Cone was deprived of adequate legal counsel. Writing for the majority in an 8-1 decision, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist reversed and said the lawyer's actions weren't unconstitutional.

Cone's lawyer didn't make a closing argument and didn't try to get a reduced sentence. The lawyer was later diagnosed with a mental illness and committed suicide.

Justice John Paul Stevens authored a dissent.

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Court Refuses To Intervene In Death Penalty Case (The Washington Post 5/29)
Free Speech or Hate Speech? Court Weighs Cross Burning (The New York Times 5/29)
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Get the Case Bell v. Cone No. 01-400:
Syllabus | Opinion | Dissent

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