The Supreme Court issued several bazaar rulings this past term, but none more so than its June 20 decision reversing a Pennsylvania death sentence. In the under-reported case of Rompilla v. Beard, the Court by a 5-4 margin ruled that defense lawyers were remiss for not digging deeply enough for mitigating factors that might have spared Ronald Rompilla, now 57, the death penalty for the 1988 murder of an Allentown tavern owner. Curiosity prompted me to dig deeper. Writing for the majority, Justice David A. Souter begins with a disturbing account of Rompilla’s violent life. On the morning of January...