USA - Missouri. Carman L. Deck gets death sentence for 3rd time

Carman L. Deck gets death sentence for 3rd time. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Gary Kramer went with the jury’s recommendation given in September. "This is the 3rd time 12 jurors have recommended a death sentence and I have concurred with them each time," Kramer said. Deck, 43, (also called Cameron Deck) was successful in getting two previous death sentences overturned on appeal. Deck was convicted in the 1996 murders of an elderly couple. Although his conviction has always been upheld, Deck’s death sentence was overturned 1st in the Missouri State Supreme Court (see 26/02/2002 ) on the grounds of an instructional error and he was granted a new penalty phase of the trial. On 03/05/2003 (see) Deck was sentenced to death a second time, but that sentence was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court 7-2 (see 30/08/2005) because Deck had appeared before the jury in shackles, which the court deemed unconstitutional. According to court documents, in July 1996 Deck and his sister, Tonia Cummings, who was sentenced to 70 years for her part in the murders, robbed and killed Jim Long, 69 and his wife Zelma, 67.