On Wednesday April 21, the closing arguments in Clinton’s case took place on Zoom and were live broadcasted on YouTube. At the end of the hearing, the judge said that he would recommend a new trial, and yesterday he filed that recommendation! This recommendation will now be sent to the Court of Criminal Appeals who will make the final decision. This is a major step towards justice! We will have to wait for the CCA’s decision, but we are very grateful and happy about this outcome.
Why a new trial?
The prosecutor who worked on Clinton Young’s trial, Ralph Petty, was secretly working as a paid law clerk for two judges who presided over Clinton’s case. In his capacity as a law clerk, Petty drafted rulings and advisory memos for the judges that were used for the judges’ orders and rulings in Clinton’s case. To learn more, read this USA Today article or watch the video below.
January hearing
The hearing in January involved fact-finding around the issue of District Judge Hyde paying Mr. Ralph Petty as a ‘de facto law clerk’ to perform work on Clinton’s trial and post-conviction proceedings while Petty was also appearing as a prosecutor for the State throughout Clinton’s trial and post-conviction proceedings (starting in 2001 and onward). Want to know everything that happened during Clinton’s evidentiary hearing in January? Read our full report here.