Supreme Court asked to bar punishment for acquitted conduct

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — In courtrooms across America, defendants get additional prison time for crimes juries found they didn’t commit. The Supreme Court is being asked to put an end to the practice. Dayonta McClinton’s case and three others like it are scheduled to be discussed when the justices next meet in private Jan. 6. A jury convicted McClinton of robbing a CVS pharmacy in Indianapolis but acquitted him of murder. A judge gave McClinton an extra 13 years in prison for the killing anyway. McClinton’s lawyers say the Supreme Court’s intervention is past due. It’s possible the pivotal vote could be Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who’s the court’s newest member and a former federal public defender.