USA - Ohio. Nearly 23 years after first sentencing Frederick Dickerson to death, a three-judge panel permanently released him from death row today.

Nearly 23 years after first sentencing Frederick Dickerson to death, a three-judge panel permanently released him from death row today. The three judges deliberated for several hours during two days before announcing their decision in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. The decision was read by visiting Judge Richard Knepper, who said the panel "cannot agree that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating factors, therefore the death penalty can not be imposed." They then imposed a life sentence. Dickerson, now 52, was convicted on Nov. 5, 1985, of the deaths of Nichole McClain and Kevin McCoy, 31. Authorities said he was looking for his estranged girlfriend, Denise Howard, when he broke into the apartment. He first shot McCoy, then Nichole twice in the face after she could not tell him where Ms. Howard was. Soon after his conviction, a three-judge panel sentenced Dickerson to death. Those same judges - Judge Knepper, retired Judge George Glasser, and Common Please Judge Charles Doneghy - reviewed the case after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati in 2006 upheld the conviction but rejected the trial's death-penalty phase. According to defense attorney Jeffrey Helmick, the appeals court ruled that Dickerson's trial lawyer had failed to raise relevant mitigating factors during the sentencing hearing, including Dickerson's limited intellectual function and some negative aspects of his childhood. Dickerson's new life sentence includes the possibility of parole, but only after he has spent 76 years in prison: 30 years for each aggravated murder conviction, to be served consecutively, plus additional time for gun specifications and a related aggravated burglary conviction.