in a 4-3 ruling, the Nevada Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence...

in a 4-3 ruling, the Nevada Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence ordered for Kitrich Powell for the 1989 murder of the 4-year-old daughter of a woman with whom he was living.
The majority opinion overturned a Clark County District Court judge's determination that Powell's trial lawyers were ineffective because they failed to call Powell's 2 brothers to testify during the penalty phase of his trial.
The decision is the latest of several involving Powell. His 1991 conviction was upheld earlier by the state high court, but the U.S. Supreme Court ordered another review. That ended with the state Supreme Court again ruling against Powell. Powell appealed again in 1998, and in 2002 a lower court judge ruled that his lawyers were ineffective in the penalty phase of his trial. Evidentiary hearings followed in 2003 and 2005, leading to then-Clark District Judge John McGroarty's decision to set aside Powell's death sentence. Prosecutors then appealed to the state Supreme Court.