Judge says prosecutors can appeal decision to order second death penalty hearing for serial killer Gary Lee Sampson
A federal judge says prosecutors can appeal his decision to order a second hearing on whether serial killer Gary Lee Sampson should be executed for carjacking and killing two people.
US District Judge Mark Wolf rejected arguments by Sampson’s lawyers that prosecutors could not appeal until the sentencing hearing was over.
Sampson was sentenced in the first hearing to be executed, but Wolf found last year that Sampson’s constitutional rights to an impartial jury had been violated because a juror had lied about “important questions relating to her ability to be impartial.” He then ordered a new hearing. Those proceedings are now on hold while the First US Circuit Court of Appeals considers the case.
If the appeals court decides that his decision ordering the second hearing can be appealed, Wolf said, it would also be “appropriate” for the court to exercise its discretion to decide on the government’s claims, and rule on whether he correctly interpreted the law in ordering the new hearing.
Sampson killed two men, Jonathan Rizzo and Philip McCloskey, in Massachusetts in July 2001. He pleaded guilty to federal charges, which carried the possibility of the death penalty. A jury found in 2003 that he should be sentenced to death.
Sampson was also convicted in state court in New Hampshire on charges of killing Robert “Eli” Whitney in Penacook, N.H., later the same month.
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