USA - Florida. Judge Kenneth R. Lester Jr. threw out that sentence of Arthur Barnhill III

Seminole County Judge Kenneth R. Lester Jr. threw out that sentence of Arthur Barnhill III because the law has changed. Barnhill, 42, Black, was sentenced to death in 1999 for the Aug. 6, 1995 murder of Earl Gallipeau, 84, during a home burglary. At the penalty phase of s trial in 1999, a jury voted 9 to 3 to recommend death, and judge Lester sentenced him to death on February 11, 2000. The Florida Supreme Court ruled last year that juries must vote 12-0 for a defendant to get the death penalty. Barnhill gave a partial confession, saying he had restrained Gallipeau while someone else killed him. He later pleaded no contest to murder. The case went before a jury because prosecutors were seeking the death penalty. The 12-member panel recommended death, and Lester Jr. imposed it. If prosecutors want Barnhill sent to death row again, they must convince every member of a new jury that death is the proper sentence. Otherwise, his sentence will be life in prison. State Attorney Phil Archer has not made a decision on what to do, a spokeswoman said.