U.S. District Judge James S

U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin of Akron has ordered that death-row inmate Jamie Madrigal receive a new trial for the murder of 18-year-old Misty Fisher, who was shot in the head during an April 12, 1996 robbery. Madrigal, then 21, was found guilty of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery by a Lucas County jury. He was sentenced to death by Judge Judith Lanzinger, and is on death row at the Mansfield Correctional Institution. However, U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin of Akron ruled Tuesday that the jury should not have heard statements given to police by Madrigal's getaway driver, Chris Cathcart, in which he implicated Madrigal as the gunman. Cathcart, then 23, told police that he waited in a car while Madrigal entered the KFC, and that Madrigal returned with a bag of money. But Cathcart refused to testify at the trial, forcing prosecutors to submit the statement as evidence at the trial. Cathcart later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter. Currently serving a 10 to 28-year sentence in the Lima Correctional Institution, Cathcart, now 30, will be eligible to go before the Ohio Parole Board next year. In 2000, the Ohio Supreme Court threw out Cathcart's statements as evidence, but upheld Madrigal's conviction. The justices said admission of the statements was a "harmless error" and ruled that other evidence presented at trial - including testimony from 5 eyewitnesses - was sufficient to convict him. On appeal from Madrigal's attorney, Judge Gwin disagreed with the state Supreme Court over the impact Cathcart's statements to police may have had on the jurors in their deliberations.