USA - Florida. Judge Charles Arnold ruled Raymond Curtis Bright, 60, Black, should get a new penalty phase

Senior Circuit Judge Charles Arnold ruled Raymond Curtis Bright, 60, Black, should get a new penalty phase because the penalty phase in his original trial was marred by ineffective work by his trial lawyers. Bright was arrested in 2008 after the bodies of Randall Brown, 16, and Derrick King III, 20, were found in Bright's home. He claimed he was attacked by the 2 and then killed both men in self defense. Prosecutors claimed Bright killed the 2 men while they were sleeping on a couch and recliner. Defense attorneys said Brown and King had moved into Bright's house and were selling drugs, and Bright, who was addicted to cocaine, wanted them out so he could attempt to get clean. A jury convicted Bright and recommended the death penalty by an 8-4 vote. Arnold sentenced him to death in November 2009, and the conviction and sentence was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.