USA - Arizona. The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling that Michael Murdaugh should get a new hearing on his death sentence.

The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court's ruling that Michael Murdaugh should get a new hearing on his death sentence. On July 26, 2013 (see) the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated the death sentence of Murdaugh, 60, 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 beating David Reynolds to death on June 26, 1995. Today the court, without comment, refused to hear the state's argument that the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had stepped "far beyond" its authority when it ruled that Murdaugh should have been sentenced by a jury instead of a judge. The state has 90 days to seek a new sentencing hearing.