USA - California. Judge Lawrence K. Karlton today threw out the death penalty of Larry Junior Webster

U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton today threw out the death penalty of Larry Junior Webster. Judge Karlton adopted the recommendation of a magistrate judge that a lesser sentence be imposed on Webster, unless the Sacramento County District Attorney's office initiates a retrial of the penalty phase within 90 days. U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd had found that Webster, the recipient of a Bronze Star for combat bravery in the Vietnam War, was denied a fair trial in the penalty phase because his counsel was incompetent. Karlton agreed with Drozd that Webster was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to "effective assistance of counsel" due to his lawyer's "failure to investigate and present a mitigation case ... to the jury." Now 65, Webster has been on death row since 1983, when he was found guilty by a jury of murdering 36-year-old William Burke on Aug. 30, 1981, so he and some companions could steal Burke's car.