"Federal court sets aside death sentence for condemned Ohio killer convicted in 1984 slaying," is the initial AP post, via the Republic.
A federal appeals court has once again set aside the death sentence of a man condemned to die for killing a woman during a 1984 robbery in eastern Ohio.
Thursday's decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati confirms the court's 2004 decision that the death sentence for John Stumpf was flawed because prosecutors told conflicting stories of his involvement in the killing.
The U.S. Supreme Court has previously upheld Stumpf's conviction.
And:
The appeals court said it was improper for prosecutors to argue that Stumpf shot Stout yet contend at a separate trial that Stumpf's companion was the triggerman.
The Zanesville Times Recorder reports, "Appeals court overturns conviction of man accused of killing New Concord woman." It's written by Kathy Thompson.
This morning, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Stumpf’s due process rights were violated.
For the murder, Stumpf received the death penalty and was also sentenced to 25 years in prison, to run consecutively, for the attempted murder connected to the shooting of Mary Jane’s husband, Norman.
In 2004, the 6th Circuit vacated the conviction and death sentence based on an involuntary guilty plea and inconsistent prosecution theories and remanded the case back to Guernsey County for a retrial.
Then in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision and placed the case back in the hands of the 6th Circuit Court.
Today's Sixth Circuit ruling in Stumpf v. Houk is available in Adobe .pdf format. More on the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Bradshaw v. Stumpf, is via Oyez.
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