USA - Ohio. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the federal death penalty for Daryl Lawrence

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reinstated the federal death penalty for Daryl Lawrence. Lawrence, 33, black, was convicted of killing Police Officer Bryan Hurst, white, during an armed bank robbery on Jan. 6, 2005. A federal jury gave Lawrence life in prison for fatally shooting  Hurst during an armed bank robbery but a death sentence for killing him with malice (see March 10, 2006). The trial judge, U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost, on Nov. 16, 2006 set aside the death sentence, ruling that the inconsistency of the jury's two sentences was "irrational," and ordered that a new jury hear the facts and determine whether Lawrence should receive life or death. The Court of Appeals today unanimously overturned that ruling, saying the jury followed the trial judge's instruction by considering each sentence separately.