Judicial override
is a concept that has been in place since the late 1970s. It’s a permissive
doctrine that gives state trial judges the option to override a jury’s sentencing
determination and institute a sentence the judge believes is more suitable. In
Alabama, judicial override has been used frequently to override jury verdicts
of life without parole for the death penalty. The Supreme Court will soon
decide whether to grant certiorari on the question of whether Alabama’s use of the
judicial override option violates a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a jury as
well as the Eighth Amendment’s prohibitions on
arbitrary and capricious death sentences and cruel and unusual punishment.
