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89 Tul. L. Rev. 985 (2014-2015)

handle is hein.journals/tulr89 and id is 1043 raw text is: When a Vendetta Is Not Vindictive: The Fifth Circuit Narrowly Defines Prosecutorial Vindictiveness in Jordan v Epps I. O VERVIEW .................................................................................... 985 H . BACKGROUND .............................................................................. 986 III. COURT'S D ECISION ...................................................................... 990 A. Judge Clement Majory Opimn .................................... 991 B. Judge Dennis's Dissent ...................................................... 992 IV A N ALY SIS ..................................................................................... 994 I. OVERVIEW Richard Jordan has been convicted of murder and sentenced to death four times.' Each and every death sentence was a result of a prosecution by Joe Sam Owen, a former assistant district attorney, who repeatedly left his private practice to serve as special prosecutor against Jordan.2 In 1976, Jordan was convicted of committing murder during a kidnapping, which under Mississippi law at that time carried a mandatory death sentence.' Over the next two decades, Jordan's case continued through multiple rounds of appeals and retrials, and he was eventually sentenced to death three times. After receiving the third death sentence, Jordan appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which vacated the sentence because potentially mitigating evidence was excluded during sentencing and remanded the case to the Mississippi Supreme Court On remand, Owen again served as special prosecutor, but rather than trying the case, he offered Jordan a plea agreement for life in prison without the possibility of parole.6 This offer was based on Jordan's good prison behavior and Jordan's promise that in exchange, he would not challenge this sentence However, three years after reaching the agreement, the Mississippi Supreme Court invalidated plea 1. Jordan v. Epps, 756 F3d 395, 398 (5th Cir. 2014) (per curiam). 2. Id. at 399-400, 402-03. 3. Id. at 399. 4. Id at 399-401. The Mississippi Supreme Court subsequently remanded the case to the trial court for sentencing. 5. Id. at 401. 6. Id. at 401-02. 7. Id. at 401-02,413.

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