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| Mo. High Court Overturns Death Sentences |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/03/2003 |
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The Missouri Supreme Court has re-sentenced three death row inmates to life in prison because judges, not juries, had decided they deserved to be executed for their murders. The decisions affecting inmates Antonio Richardson, Andre Morrow and Keith Smith follow a ruling last year by the U.S. Supreme Court that the constitutional right to a trial by jury also applies to death sentences. In a June decision, the state Supreme Court said it would apply the federal decision retroactively to inmates on Missouri's death row. In three separate orders last Tuesday, the court said juries in each case had failed to find every fact required by state law as a prerequisite to the death sentence before judges took over the sentencing job. Before Tuesday, the court already had re-sentenced two other convicted killers to life in prison because judges had imposed their death sentences after juries deadlocked on the appropriate punishment. Death penalty opponents were heartened by the state Supreme Court's decisions. "I think the Missouri Supreme Court is being quite appropriate in supporting that basic foundation of our society," said Jeff Stack of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty. |
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