Alan Pursell, then 22, was sent to death row for the...

Alan Pursell, then 22, was sent to death row for the July 23, 1981 killing of 8 years old Christopher Brine. Chief U.S. District Judge D. Brooks Smith, sitting at the federal court in Johnstown, ruled that there were no verdict mistakes in the trial, but in a separate hearing, where jurors weighed the death penalty, Pursell's attorney laid out an "anemic" case, Smith wrote.