in Philadelphia, U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody has thrown out the...

in Philadelphia, U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody has thrown out the murder conviction and death sentence of a man who has spent nearly half his life on death row, citing faulty jury instructions and a deficient defense lawyer.
Herbert Baker, 44, will go free unless prosecutors retry him within 6 months.
Baker was tried in 1985 along with two accomplices in a 1984 robbery that ended in the death of 38-year-old William Gambrell. The other 2 men were sentenced to life in prison while Baker, the alleged gunman, was sentenced to death.
Judge Brody said that jurors, if not for faulty instructions, might have chosen to convict Baker only as an accomplice, given inconsistent witness statements.