USA - Kentucky. U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell overturned Robert Keith Woodall's death sentence

U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell overturned Robert Keith Woodall's death sentence. Judge Russell sent 34-year-old Woodall's case back to state court for re-sentencing. Russell found that the state judge improperly instructed the jury before sentencing and denied Woodall a chance to object to a black juror being dismissed. Woodall in 1998 pleaded guilty to killing 16-year-old Sarah Hansen on Jan. 25, 1997. A jury sentenced him to death for the murder plea and life in prison for kidnapping and rape. Prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling.