The 3rd U

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the death penalty imposed on James Carpenter convicted in 1984 of stabbing Jimmie Lee Taylor, ruling that a trial judge improperly told jurors they didn't have the power to sentence the defendant to life in prison without parole. The Court of Appeals ordered the state to give James Carpenter a new sentencing hearing, or sentence him to life in prison.