in Richmond, a federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing...

in Richmond, a federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing for Richard Thomas Stitt sentenced to death for ordering three murders.
A 3-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the penalty phase of Stitt's trial was tainted by his attorney's conflict of interests.
Defense attorney Norman Malinski did not ask the court to appoint an expert to testify about Stitt's potential future dangerousness because such a request would have triggered an inquiry into the Sources of funds used to pay the lawyer's fee, the appeals court said.
Prosecutors had maintained during trial that Malinski was being paid with drug money.
Malinski instead retained his own less expensive expert whose only knowledge of federal prisons came from watching an HBO television special, the appeals court said. In doing so, the court ruled, Malinski put his own interests ahead of his client's.
The decision affirmed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson in Norfolk.
Stitt was convicted in 1998 of 3 counts of murder during a continuing criminal enterprise and several drug and firearms offenses.