the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial for a man sentenced to death...

the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial for a man sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of a police officer. The court said Merrit A. Sims' lawyers did not do enough to counter the state's argument that he killed to avoid drugs being detected in his car, which would have sent him back to prison, and was what the state gave as his motive for the crime. The Supreme Court said the evidence supported Sims' conviction for the murder of Charles Stafford - Sims confessed to the killing, although he argued it was in self-defense. But the court, in an unsigned unanimous opinion, said Sims' attorneys at his trial did not do enough to counter the prosecution's claims about his motive, namely that a police dog detected that the car in which Sims had been stopped had drugs in it. No drugs were ever found. But the testimony about the police dog picking up the scent of drugs laid the foundation for Sims' parole officer to testify that if Sims was found in possession of drugs, he would be in violation of his probation, and could be sent back to prison. During closing arguments, prosecutors suggested that Sims killed Stafford because he had drugs in the car and did not want to go back to prison. The court said it found Sims' attorneys did not sufficiently challenge the evidence. The court ordered his convictions vacated and ordered a new trial.