The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide whether...

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide whether its decision that overturned the death penalty laws of five states 18 months ago should be applied retroactively. If the answer is yes, more than 100 death-row inmates in 5 states will be entitled to new sentencing hearings. In Ring v. Arizona, decided in June 2002, the court held that juries rather than judges had to make the crucial factual determinations that separated convicted murderers eligible to be sentenced to death from those who were not. While juries in most states have the role of determining the existence of "aggravating factors," 5 states - Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nebraska, in addition to Arizona - gave that role to judges. The new case, Schriro v. Summerlin, No. 03-526, is an appeal by the State of Arizona from a ruling in September by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco. The appeals court adopted 2 alternative theories for applying the Ring decision retroactively. The Arizona inmate whose death sentence is directly at stake, Warren W. Summerlin, was found guilty in 1982 of sexually assaulting and murdering a bill collector who had arrived at his home.