SUPREME COURT Retrial rejected for death row inmate

Court also upholds the execution of mentally scarred inmate.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a Florida death row inmate should not automatically get a new trial because his lawyer conceded the man's guilt without his consent.
The high court also rejected an appeal from Texas death row inmate Troy Kunkle.
The move allows his execution to proceed, even though one justice declared that Kunkle's sentence clearly violated the Constitution.
In the Florida case, the Supreme Court voted 8-0 to set aside a Florida Supreme Court decision in favor of Joe Elton Nixon.
He was convicted for the 1984 murder of a woman he kidnapped from a Tallahassee mall after asking her for a ride.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer and was unable to attend oral arguments for the case in November, did not take part in the decision.
The ruling narrows the legal standard for a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, by far the most commonly used defense by death row inmates, making it more difficult for defendants to challenge their sentences.
At issue was the court-appointed attorney's decision to admit at trial that Nixon was responsible for the victim's "horrible, horrible death" in hopes his candor would persuade the jury not to impose the death penalty. The state court said that deprived Nixon of his Sixth Amendment right to a vigorous trial defense.
Bad strategy?
In an opinion written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court said the attorney's concession of guilt cannot justify a new trial on those grounds alone.
Nixon had several opportunities to object when his lawyer told him of the strategy but didn't, she said.
"When counsel informs the defendant of the strategy counsel believes to be in the defendant's best interest and the defendant is unresponsive, counsel's strategic choice is not impeded by any blanket rule demanding the defendant's explicit consent," Justice Ginsburg wrote.
The ruling sends the case back to the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether Nixon might be entitled to a new trial on other grounds.
Florida prosecutors say Nixon tied 38-year-old Jeanne Bickner to trees with jumper cables and set her on fire.
Facing substantial evidence against Nixon, his lawyer offered unsuccessfully to plea-bargain for life imprisonment before deciding to concede the man's guilt at the beginning of trial.
In a 5-2 decision last year, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial after finding the lawyer did not effectively represent Nixon and the defendant did not agree to the lawyer's strategy.
Based on state law
The Supreme Court also declined to hear the appeal from Kunkle, convicted of murdering a man nearly 20 years ago.
The court previously voted twice to stay Kunkle's execution while his attorneys filed appeals.
The most recent was a 5-4 order last month.
His attorneys had argued that Kunkle's drug and alcohol abuse history was not properly considered as mitigating evidence at trial.
In a concurring opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that he had initially agreed to a stay because justices believed they had authority to review the case.
However, upon closer review, justices realized the appeal was based solely on state law.
"That result is regrettable because it seems plain that Kunkle's sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution," Justice Stevens wrote.
Kunkle, 38, and several friends were high on drugs and beer and looking for someone to rob when they offered Stephen Horton, 31, a ride home on Aug. 11, 1984. Kunkle, then 18, shot Horton in the back of the head; the victim had $13 in his wallet.
Three companions received prison terms ranging from 30 years to life.
Defense lawyers said Kunkle was raised in a troubled home and left mentally scarred by parents who had been treated for depression.
A call to Kunkle's attorney, Robert McGlasson, as to whether he planned to pursue other legal challenges was not immediately returned Monday.