An Oklahoma death row inmate has won a review of his death sentence after the United States Supreme Court ordered the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to take a second look at the sentencing.

Shaun Michael Bosse was convicted in McClain County 2012 of three counts of first degree murder for killing his girlfriend Katrina Griffin, 25, and her two children, Christian, 8, and Chastity, 6, in 2010. Bosse stabbed Katrina and Christian before putting Chastity in a closet and wedging the door shut to prevent her escape. He then set the home on fire. Prosecutors say he killed the woman and two children to cover up the theft of several items from Griffin.

As prosecutors allowed relatives to give their victim impact statements to the jury, they asked the family members what they thought a proper sentence would be. Family members recommended death for Bosse. Although his attorney objected, a judge allowed the family members to recommend a sentence for the convicted man.

Bosse appealed the sentence, citing a 1987 Supreme Court ruling that the Eighth Amendment "prohibits a capital sentencing jury from considering victim impact evidence” that does not “relate directly to the circumstances of the crime.”

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected that claim, saying that a subsequent Supreme Court decision overruled the 1987 decision, and that the judge did not err in allowing the victim impact statements and the family members' sentence request.

Bosse then took his case to the United States Supreme Court, which has now ruled in favor of the appellant, saying, "The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals remains bound by (the 1987 precedent's) prohibition on characterizations and opinions from a victim’s family members about the crime, the defendant, and the appropriate sentence unless this Court reconsiders that ban."

The Supreme Court has ordered the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to review the Bosse's death sentence to determine if the improperly admitted victim impact statements affected the jury's decision in rendering a death sentence.

Image credit: Beatrice Murch