The federal appeals court in Richmond has reinstated...

The federal appeals court in Richmond has reinstated the death sentence of a man who was convicted of murder in 1984, overturning an April decision by a U.S. District Court judge in Baltimore. lower court ruling that would have sent the case to a jury for the fourth time. A fed-up panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a trial judge did not violate John Booth-El's rights by telling jurors to disregard the fact that he was drunk when he killed Irvin Bronstein, 78, and his wife Rose, 75. At the time of the 1983 slayings, Maryland law allowed defendants to claim intoxication as a defense, but the law had changed by the time he was sentenced. The 4th Circuit's ruling is far from unexpected. The appeals court is widely considered one of the most conservative in the country, particularly on death penalty issues.