USA - Military. The Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out the death sentence of Andrew P. Witt, 31, White

The Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out 3-2 the death sentence of Andrew P. Witt, 31, White, the only U.S. Air Force member on the military's death row. The court ruled that defense attorneys ignored critical evidence that likely would have swayed jurors to spare the airman's life at his 2005 court-martial in Georgia. Witt was convicted of killing Senior Airman Andrew Schliepsiek and his wife, Jamie on July 5, 2004. Prosecutors said Schliepsiek was upset after his wife told him Witt had flirted with her. He made several angry phone calls to Witt, who dressed himself in camouflage fatigues and armed himself with a knife before heading onto the base. Hours later. police found the Schliepsieks dead, both of them stabbed several times. Witt later confessed. The appeals court ruled that his three attorneys provided an inadequate defense during sentencing by ignoring 3 key pieces of mitigating evidence to rebut prosecutors' argument that Witt was simply a cold-blooded killer. One was the defense team failed to investigate a head injury Witt suffered in a motorcycle crash four months before the slaying. Witt's appellate lawyers argued the crash may have caused brain damage that altered his behavior. The judges also ruled defense lawyers didn't dig deep enough into Witt's family history and failed to pull records related to his mother being treated for depression when he was a boy. And the defense team never interviewed a witness: a sheriff's deputy who says he comforted Witt after the airman broke down sobbing during a pretrial hearing in the case. The appeals judges said the deputy's testimony at Witt's court-martial may have swayed at least one of the 12 officers on the jury to spare the airman's life. Unanimous agreement was needed for a death sentence.