USA - Florida. The state Supreme Court tossed out the murder conviction and death sentence for Ana Maria Cardona

The state Supreme Court tossed out the 2011 murder conviction and death sentence for Ana Maria Cardona, marking the second time the court has reversed her case. Cardona, 54, hispanic, was first convicted in 1992 and sentenced to death in the November 1990 death of his 3-year-old son Lazaro Figueroa. On July 11, 2002 (see) a new trial was ordered by the Florida Supreme Court. The court ordered a new trial because prosecutors didn’t tell the defense that her girlfriend, the key witness, also admitted to abusing the little boy. Olivia Gonzalez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years. Cardona was sentenced to death again in 2011 (see JUNE 10, 2011). Today the Court decided that Cardona deserves a new trial because of inflammatory and improper statements made by prosecutors during closing arguments. The Supreme Court, in a 28-page decision, said the trial judge erred in allowing prosecutors to repeatedly use the phrase "justice for Lazaro" in closing arguments to the jury. Prosecutors were also wrong, the justices added, in describing the defense case as "diversionary" and calling Cardona herself a "drama expert" who belonged on Spanish-language telenovela program. Cardona's lawyers objected 58 times but Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Reemberto Diaz overruled nearly all of them.