The only woman on Idaho death row is seeking to have her sentence reconsidered, but a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week has thrown her active federal appeal into question.
Robin Row, was convicted of murdering her husband and two young children. A judge handed her a death sentence, making her just the second woman in Idaho history to receive the death penalty.
The Idaho Statesman reports, Row’s current appeal before the U.S. District Court for Idaho argues that she had ineffective legal counsel, because evidence of brain damage was never introduced during sentencing.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision late last month, establishes that unless evidence of ineffective counsel is first presented at the state level, it may not be used in a federal appeal.
Idaho is one of 24 U.S. states that maintain capital punishment.
