USA - Alabama. The Court of Criminal Appeals has again overturned the death sentence for Jerry Jerome Smith

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has again overturned the death sentence for Jerry Jerome Smith, 42, Black. Smith was convicted of killing 40-year-old Willie James Flournoy, 26-year-old Theresa Ann Helms and 29-year-old David Lee Bennett in 1996 over a drug debt that Flournoy owed him. His 1st 2 death sentences were overturned by appeals court. He was sentenced to death again last year by Circuit Judge Michael Conaway. But the Court of Appeals struck down that sentence because the judge made an incorrect statement to the jury, which unanimously recommended a death sentence. The judge told the jury that when deciding whether to recommend a death sentence, it could consider that Smith intentionally caused the death of 2 or more people by one act. That is now part of Alabama's death penalty law, but it was not in 1996 when the killings occurred, Criminal Appeals Court Judge Mary Windom wrote in the unanimous decision. The appeals court noted that even prosecutors conceded the death sentence had to be overturned. The ruling will send the case back to Houston County for a 4th sentencing hearing. Smith, 42, is on death row at Holman Prison in Atmore.