U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez has ordered a new sentencing hearing for Kelvin X. Morris...

U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez has ordered a new sentencing hearing for Kelvin X. Morris, concluding that he had not received effective legal representation at trial and that the jury had been given misleading instructions. Morris, 47, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1983 in the Aug. 9, 1980 shooting death of Robert McDonald during a robbery. Judge Rodriguez concluded that Morris deserved a new penalty hearing because his trial counsel, Leon Tucker, had failed to fully investigate an array of compelling "mitigating" evidence that might have persuaded the jury to decide on life in prison rather than death. That evidence, he said, included a history of childhood abuse, brain damage and mental problems. In addition, Rodriguez ordered a hearing to determine whether Tucker had a conflict of interest because, in a separate civil case, he also was representing Morris' brother, Artie, who had been identified by several witnesses as the gunman.