the Tennessee Supreme Court has reversed the 1st-degree murder...

the Tennessee Supreme Court has reversed the 1st-degree murder conviction of a death row inmate and ordered a new trial. Arthur Copeland -- now 34 -- was convicted and sentenced to death in 2000 for the 1998 shooting death of Andre Jackson. Copeland claimed in his trial that he was mistakenly identified.
In an unanimous court decision filed today, the Supreme Court ruled the trial court should have allowed the defense to present testimony of an expert on the issue of eyewitness identification. The court also found that the Court of Criminal Appeals erred by finding that the death sentence was disproportionate to the crime. That allows the state to seek the death penalty in Copeland's new trial.