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California penalty phase relief grant

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

In People v. Lester Harland Wison, No. S089623 (Cal July 28, 2008), the California Supreme Court granted relief based on the removal of a juror during the penalty phase deliberations. The California Supreme Court overturned the death sentence in a Riverside County case Monday, saying a judge improperly dismissed a juror as the panel was considering capital punishment or life in prison for the defendant. The judges upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Lester Harland Wilson, 42, of Riverside. He was convicted in 2000 for shooting Uwe Oliver Durbin in the head five times after kidnapping and torturing him for hours on June 8, 1997. With the penalty phase overturned on state issues only, there is no appeal to other courts, said Deputy Attorney General Alana Cohen Butler...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on July 29, 2008 (boomark / email).