James Chappell, sentenced to death for murdering his ex-girlfriend...

James Chappell, sentenced to death for murdering his ex-girlfriend - after he was mistakenly released from jail - won a new penalty hearing from the Nevada Supreme Court.
The high court also said 2 aggravating circumstances brought up by prosecutors in efforts to get the 1st death sentence can't be used again. That still leaves a 3rd "aggravator," that the murder was committed while Chappell was trying to sexually assault Deborah Panos.
Panos, the mother of Chappell's three children, was stabbed with a kitchen knife in 1995. His lawyer said Chappell acted in the heat of passion after becoming enraged about a love-letter Panos got from another man. Chappell had been in jail as a result of several charges, including a domestic violence allegation. Following a court hearing on the day of the murder, he was supposed to go to a drug treatment program. Instead, he wound up on the street.
Justices said the lower court properly found that Chappell's trial lawyer failed to put on witnesses who could have countered the prosecution's evidence about his criminal history, bad character and abusive relationship with Chanos.
Citing its 2004 "McConnell" ruling that changed the way prosecutors can seek a death sentence, the Supreme Court also barred the use of "aggravators" alleging the murder was committed during the commission of a burglary and during the commission of a robbery.
In that 2004 ruling, the court rejected the practice by prosecutors of charging a person with 1st-degree murder for a killing that occurs while another felony is being committed, and then using that same charge as an aggravator to seek a death sentence.
The high court said the McConnell case "squarely applies to Chappell's case and renders infirm the aggravators based on the robbery and burglary, the predicate felonies that supported the felony murder theory."
But prosecutors didn't rely on the sexual assault charge to support the felony murder argument, justices said, adding that there's evidence Chappell sexually assaulted Panos and his "criminal purpose" was distinct from the burglary and robbery.