in a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court had reinstated the murder conviction for...

in a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court had reinstated the murder conviction for John David Stumpf but essentially left to a lower court the decision whether the killing of Mary Jane Stout should have resulted in the death penalty. Stumpf, 45, was convicted of murdering Mrs. Stout in 1984.
Stumpf pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to death for murdering Mrs. Stout. However, after several failed appeals over the years, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned both the conviction and death sentence in April 2004.
The 6th Circuit judges, at the order of the Supreme Court, must now revisit Stumpf's sentencing. He could be sentenced to death again or to life in prison. According to court documents, Stumpf shot Mr. Stout.
But he has said He and friend Clyde Wesley fired the shots that killed Mrs. Stout. The high-court decision written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor reversed the appeals court's ruling, in part because under Ohio law "aides and abettors" also can be convicted of aggravated murder.