"There is no reason for Judge Brailsford to subject herself to the very human pressures that arise out of sitting in judgment in cases involving people we know and value as friends," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held.

A federal appeals court has disqualified a judge from hearing an Idaho death row inmate's lawsuit accusing prosecutors of fabricating evidence to prevent him from winning clemency, saying the judge should have recused herself due to her friendship with the top prosecutor in the case.

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously found that U.S. District Judge Amanda Brailsford’s decision not to recuse herself was “based on a clear error of law.”

An Idaho judge can’t preside over a death-row inmate’s lawsuit due to her friendship with a prosecutor whose conduct is challenged in the litigation, a federal appeals court ruled.

An Idaho judge has scheduled the execution of the state's longest-serving death row inmate following a botched attempt to administer his sentence earlier this year.