USA - Nevada. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned death penalty for Mark Rogers

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned death penalty for Mark Rogers, White, because of a flawed jury instruction during the penalty hearing. The Court granted a writ of habeas corpus in favor Rogers, who killed Emery and Mary Strode and daughter Meriam Strode, 41, in the couple's home on December 3, 1980. After his conviction in 1981, the jury found the murders involved depravity of mind as an aggravating circumstance that justified the death penalty. The appeals court upheld the July 8, 2011 decision of Senior District Judge Edward Reed Jr. that the instruction was unconstitutionally vague. It ordered a new penalty hearing or to impose a non-death penalty sentence. The appeals court said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 1 year before the Pershing County trial that the depravity of mind instruction was vague and should not be given to the jury.