USA -Arizona. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated the death sentence of Michael Joe Murdaugh, 59, White

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated the death sentence of Michael Joe Murdaugh, 59, White. The court said he should get a new sentencing hearing because he was sentenced to death by a judge on November 6, 2001 and not a jury. A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ring v. Arizona held that juries and not judges must decide whether a defendant is eligible for the death penalty. He was accused of severely beating David Reynolds on June 26, 1995.