USA - Louisiana. Judge Frank Marullo vacated the death sentence of Juan Smith, 37, black

Orleans Parish Judge Frank Marullo vacated the death sentence of Juan Smith, 37, black, convicted in 1996 in a 1995 triple murder. The judge upheld the conviction of Smith in the execution-style murders of Tangie Thompson; her boyfriend, Andre White; and Devyn Thompson, her 3-year-old child. But Marullo nixed the death penalty, saying the jury was tainted by Smith's conviction months earlier in a separate murder case that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned in January. In that case, a murder rampage left 5 people dead, Smith was sentenced to 5 life prison terms. That conviction was overturned by the high court, which ruled 8-1 that prosecutors violated Brady v. Maryland, the 1963 Supreme Court decision that said hiding evidence favorable to a defendant violates the constitutional right to due process. Prosecutors tried Smith 1st in the 5 murders, then used his conviction in that case to help secure the death penalty in the 1996 trial in the 3 killings.