USA - Alabama. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reinstated the death sentence for Billy Joe Magwood

A 3-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reinstated the death sentence for Billy Joe Magwood. Magwood was convicted June 2, 1981 for the murder of Coffee County Sheriff Neil Grantham on March 1, 1979. He was sentenced to death June 2, 1981. The conviction and death sentence were upheld by the state courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1985, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama also upheld the conviction, but required a new sentencing hearing for the consideration of additional mitigating circumstances. Magwood was again sentenced to death in 1986 and the sentence upheld by the state appeals court. Another appeal began in 1997 before the U.S. District Court eventually resulted in Magwood's sentence being vacated on April 9, 2007 (see). Judge Myron Thompson ruled that Magwood’s death sentence violated due process and had to be overturned. Thompson contended that at the time Magwood murdered Grantham, the highest penalty applicable for the crime was life without parole. He also ruled that Magwood’s death sentence had to be vacated because of the ineffectiveness of counsel.