USA - Federal. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the death sentence given to Ronell Wilson

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan today overturned the death sentence given to Ronell Wilson in March 2007, the first federal death sentence given in New York in five decades. The appeals court upheld the conviction of Wilson, 27, black, in the March 10, 2003, robbery and murder of Detectives James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews, but concluded that prosecutors made legal errors during the penalty phase of the trial that were not corrected by the judge in his instructions to jurors. The 2nd Circuit said it was vacating the death sentences because prosecutors violated Wilson's Constitutional rights when they argued to the jury that Wilson failed to accept responsibility for his crime because he went to trial. The appeals court said it was unconstitutional to "disallow the death penalty for those who plead guilty but allow it for those who exercise their right to a trial." The appeals court also said prosecutors erred when they cited Wilson's decision not to testify as another reason for jurors to reject his remorse. Wilson was the city's 1st federal defendant to receive a death sentence penalty since 1954, when it was imposed on a bank robber who killed an FBI agent. (see Jan. 29 and March 29, 2007).