a Miami drug trafficker convicted in 1991 in the September...

a Miami drug trafficker convicted in 1991 in the September 1988 murders of 4 people (Derek Devan Hill, Mario Alfonso Douglas, Michael Anthony McCormick, and Mildred Jean Baker) should get life in prison and not death, the Florida Supreme Court ruled today.
The justices voted 4-3 to reduce the sentence of Ronald Lee Williams, 44, but the justices unanimously upheld Williams' 1st-degree murder conviction.
Williams was not present when the four victims died, but he had ordered other
ring members to kill them because he believed they had stolen drugs and money.
The high court majority ruled Williams had received ineffective counsel during the penalty phase of his trial because his lawyer decided not to present the jury or judge with mitigating evidence of an abusive childhood, substance abuse and mental impairment.
The jury voted for a life sentence, but Circuit Judge Nickolas Geeker overrode that recommendation and ordered the death penalty.
Two co-defendants, Timothy Robinson, and Michael Coleman, also received death sentences. Darrell Frazier was sentenced to life and his brother, Bruce Frazier, was convicted on lesser charges and sentenced to 50 years in prison.