01
May
JUSTICES RULE RETROACTIVE LAWS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Scott Carmell was convicted in 1997 on 15 counts of indecency with a child, sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault. He engaged in various sex acts, including intercourse, with his stepdaughter over a four year period, beginning in 1991 when she was a 12 year old sixth grader. According to the Associated Press, the Supreme Court threw out some of the Texas man’s convictions for sexually assaulting her. By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled that four of his 15 convictions wrongly were based on a Texas law enacted after