Bruce Earl Ward, Petitioner v. State of Arkansas, Respondent

Summary

The court denied Ward’s motion to recall the mandate from his 1997 capital resentencing. It held that the record did not show an appellate-process breakdown concerning either the denial of independent mental-health assistance or the mitigating-evidence instruction referring to circumstances existing at the time of the murder. The court concluded that Ward received the constitutionally required mental-health evaluation and that the jury was not shown to have been confused or prevented from considering mitigating evidence.