Terry Lyn Short is scheduled to be executed on June 17 in Oklahoma. He was convicted of causing a fire that killed Ken Yamamoto in 1995. A key witness against Short at trial was a jailhouse informant who testified in return for leniency on charges that he was facing. Defense counsel at trial sought to present testimony of a third inmate in the same cell who was prepared to refute everything that the jailhouse informant had said. However, the trial judge refused to let this witness testify, and his story was never heard. The trial judge ruled that the defense had not presented this rebuttal witness sufficiently ahead of time to be heard. When this issue was reviewed in federal court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit stated that the exclusion of the witness “deprived the jury of relevant evidence,” but upheld the trial judge’s ruling, saying, “the Constitution entitles a criminal defendant to a fair trial, not a perfect one,” and that the appeals court was required to be “deferential” to state court decisions.

Short was accused of starting the fire by throwing a firebomb through the patio of an apartment below the victim where Short’s ex-girlfriend lived. Expert testimony from the defense contradicted the state’s evidence and maintained that the fire scene was not consistent with a firebomb sparking the fire.
(“Urgent Action Appeal,” Amnesty International, May 23, 2008). See generally Innocence regarding the possible implications of an unfair trial.
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