USA - Florida. Judge Henry Davis threw out the death sentence of Raymond Morrison

Circuit Judge Henry Davis threw out the death sentence of Raymond Morrison, 46, Black, who has been on Death Row for 17 years. Judge Davis is the same judge who originally sentenced Morrison to die. The judge ruled that the lawyers who originally defended Morrison at trial in 1998 did an ineffective job representing him. Morrison was sentenced to death for the Jan. 8, 1997 murder of 81-year-old Albert Dwelle. In his ruling throwing out the conviction, Davis said the errors committed by defense attorneys Refik Eler and Christopher Anderson led him to believe Morrison never had a chance at a fair trial. Eler handled the guilt phase and Anderson handled the penalty phase. Eler was in private practice at the time he defended Morrison and is now the chief deputy public defender working for 4th Circuit Public Defender Matt Shirk. Anderson is still in private practice. Attorney Martin McClain, who now represents Morrison, said his previous lawyers never investigated his case before defending him at trial. “It was like he had no attorney,” McClain said. Morrison will technically remain on Death Row while that appeal occurs. In his ruling, Davis seemed especially concerned that Eler and Anderson didn’t address Morrison’s mental health and also said the lawyers didn’t actively investigate the case and prepare for Morrison’s defense during the trial and penalty phase. There were several people willing to testify that they saw Morrison somewhere else around the time Dwelle was killed, but Eler didn’t call any of them to testify.