the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the death sentence, but not the conviction...

the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the death sentence, but not the conviction, of Carl L. Brooks.
The 3-judge panel ruled that a juror might have been beholden to prosecutors after he was charged with bringing a semiautomatic pistol to the courthouse during the trial.
Security guards found the handgun in the juror's briefcase as he entered the courthouse on April 22, 1997, the morning after the jury had convicted Brooks of shooting Frank Johnson, 22, during a drug-related robbery.
The juror, Santiago Alexander Garcia, claimed that he had planned to bring the weapon to a gunsmith for repair. After being charged with a misdemeanor, he returned to the trial to sentence Brooks.
Brooks' defense lawyers objected to Garcia's participation in the sentencing, but State District Judge Pat Priest let Garcia remain on the jury after determining that the juror's deliberations would not be affected by his own pending case.