USA - California. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the reconsideration of the death sentence meted out to Jesse Gonzales

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ordered the reconsideration of the death sentence meted out to Jesse Gonzales, a man convicted of killing a police officer in 1979. The Court of Appeals ruled that state court judges must decide whether psychological reports prosecutors suppressed about a jailhouse informant could have helped Gonzales avoid the death penalty. Gonzales was convicted in the 1979 shooting death of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy Jack Williams. He was sentenced to death in May 1981 and is one of the longest-serving inmates on California’s death row. The divided three-judge panel ordered a state court to hold a hearing to determine whether the psychological reports if introduced at the trial may have persuaded the jury to sentence Gonzales to prison rather than death.