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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal from a Pennsylvania death-row inmate over when a judge must step aside from a case. Inmate Terrance "Terry" Williams says then-Chief Justice Ronald Castille of Pennsylvania Supreme Court should not have taken part in Williams' case, because Castille signed off on Williams' death penalty prosecution while serving as Philadelphia's district attorney in the 1980s. The Supreme Court is considering whether Castille's participation in the case violated Williams' constitutional rights. Castille is now retired, but in December 2014, he was part of a unanimous court that reinstated Williams' death sentence. A lower court judge had thrown out the sentence because prosecutors working for Castille hid evidence that might have helped the defense in Williams' 1986 murder trial. Williams' lawyer says Castille had a clear conflict of interest and should have stepped aside from the case. "The issue being raised is prosecutorial misconduct, in his office, at the time he was the boss," said Shawn Nolan, who handles death penalty appeals in the Federal Community Defender Office in Philadelphia. Castille refused defense requests to recuse himself. "In Pennsylvania, we leave it up to the judge's personal conscience. I've always been confident that I can be fair and impartial," he said. Philadelphia prosecutors argue that Castille played only a fleeting part in Williams' prosecution, limited to signing off on the decision to seek the death penalty. Williams, who had been a star high-school quarterback, was accused of killing a church deacon. He already had been convicted of killing a high-school booster for which he was sentenced to up to 27 years in prison. Williams claims both men sexually abused him. Prosecutors had information that the deacon was molesting boys and failed to turn it over to defense lawyers. The high court also is weighing whether Castille's involvement even matters when he did not cast a deciding vote, an issue that has divided lower federal courts. Williams' lawyers argue that his presence alone could have influenced colleagues. A judge's decision about sitting out a case is a sensitive subject for the Supreme Court. The justices decide for themselves when they should recuse. The late Justice Antonin Scalia once famously explained in a 21-page memo why he would not step aside from a case in which Vice President Richard Cheney was a party, after Scalia and Cheney went on a duck-hunting trip together in Louisiana. In its last major case about judicial ethics, the court divided 5-4 in 2009 in ruling that elected judges must step aside from cases when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias. ___ Associated Press writer Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Justices hear claim of judicial bias in death-row case