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High court to review California death penalty case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will consider reinstating the conviction and death sentence for a California man in a 29-year-old triple murder in San Diego.

The justices said Monday they will hear California’s appeal of a federal appeals court ruling that overturned the conviction and sentence for Hector Ayala.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Ayala was denied a fair trial because prosecutors excused all seven black and Hispanic jurors who might have served.

The jury convicted Ayala of killing three people during a drug robbery at a San Diego garage in 1985.

The case will be argued in the winter.

The case is Chappell v. Ayala, 13-1428.

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Congressional Democrats launch probe into ICE enforcement in Northern Virginia

For all the latest developments in Congress, follow WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at Today on the Hill. Democratic members of Congress announced an investigation Wednesday into Immigration and Customers Enforcement in Northern Virginia, including a recent incident in which an agent pointed a gun at a woman in Bailey’s Crossroads. “We are opening this investigation because enough is enough when it comes to ICE brutality,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat who represents Virginia’s 10th District. Subramanyam and Virginia Rep. Don Beyer, who represents the 8th District, spoke outside the U.S. Capitol along with Carolina Molina, the U.S. citizen and Loudoun County resident who recorded her Aug. 10 encounter with ICE agents.
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