WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered lower courts to review the case of the only woman on Oklahoma鈥檚 death row over concerns that prosecutors鈥 discussion of her sexual history rendered her trial unfair in the murder of her estranged husband.
The court, over two dissenting votes, threw out a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the sentence and conviction of Brenda Andrew for her role in the killing of advertising executive Rob Andrew in 2001.
James Pavatt, Andrew鈥檚 lover, also is on death row after he of killing Andrew with a shotgun in the family garage in Oklahoma City.
In an unsigned opinion, the justices ordered the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to re-examine Andrew's prosecution to determine if judges 鈥渞eviewing this record could disagree with Andrew that the trial court's mistaken admission of irrelevant evidence was so 鈥榰nduly prejudicial鈥 as to render her trial 鈥榝undamentally unfair.鈥欌
, joined by , wrote that the state produced overwhelming evidence that Andrew participated in her husband's murder and would have left the conviction and death sentencing in place.
Lawyers for Andrew argued that the state had a circumstantial case that it buttressed by presenting evidence about 鈥渉er sexual history, gender presentation, demeanor, and motherhood."
At trial, the lawyers wrote, 鈥漷he prosecution relentlessly derided Ms. Andrew, using sexually-charged descriptions to cast her in the role of an unchaste wife," including a prosecutor's reference to her as a 鈥渟lut puppy鈥 and, during closing arguments, the display of her thong underwear.
A three-judge appellate panel affirmed a state appellate ruling that sustained the conviction and death sentence. A dissenting judge on the 10th Circuit wrote that the evidence rendered the trial unfair.
鈥淭he evidence not only lacked relevance but also cast Ms. Andrew as a woman fixated on seducing nearby men,鈥 Judge Robert Bacharach wrote.
