U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Brimmer in Wyoming has overturned

U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Brimmer in Wyoming has overturned a 1998 state death sentence and ordered a new trial for inmate James Harlow who was convicted of murdering a prison guard (Cpl. Wayne Martinez)in 1997. Among the reasons: In a 230-page ruling, Brimmer stated that Harlow was denied a fair trial in state court because conflicts between his original lawyer, Keith Goody, and the former state public defender Sylvia Hackl. The judge said that Goody was made to fear he would be fired for doing his job and insisting on more resources to defend Harlow. The judge also ruled that the state Public Defender's Office failed to give Harlow's team enough money to investigate the circumstances of the case. Brimmer ruled that state prosecutors in Harlow's state case improperly withheld information from Harlow's defense team about the other prison inmates who testified against him at trial. And Brimmer found that that Judge Kenneth Stebner, who presided over Harlow's original trial, provided "defective instructions setting forth the death penalty sentencing mechanics" in Harlow's case. Brimmer ruled that Stebner refused to allow Harlow's lawyers to question potential jurors adequately about their feelings about the death penalty and other issues. Harlow originally was sentenced to serve three life sentences for a separate crime the 1985 rape and murder of a teenage girl. He served most of his prison time at a Nebraska state prison but was sent back to the Wyoming state penitentiary shortly before Martinez was killed.