USA - Florida. Scott Mansfield can get new trial

Scott Mansfield can get new trial. U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Presnell in Orlando has granted a new trial to Scott Mansfield, 47, convicted in the Oct. 15, 1995 sexual mutilation and strangulation of Sara Robles, 31. Judge Presnell ruled that a videotape of Scott Mansfield being interrogated by police should not have been shown to a jury because he was not warned of his Miranda rights to remain silent and contact a lawyer. The judge wrote that the tape "consisted of two hours of accusations by the police and unconvincing denials and contradictions by Mansfield," who disavowed killing Sara Robles. "The Court has little doubt that the videotape had a substantial and injurious effect on the jury's verdict," Presnell wrote in an opinion published late today. Mansfield was sentenced to death Jan. 30, 1998, for the 1st-degree murder of Robles. A jury unanimously recommended the sentence. Presnell ordered Mansfield released if the state does not retry him within 120 days. But the Florida Attorney General's Office, which is handling the case, plans to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.