USA - Ohio. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has overturned the death sentence imposed on Percy Hutton

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has overturned the death sentence imposed on Percy Hutton by an Ohio court in 1986. The court granted Hutton a new penalty hearing as a result of the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the aggravating circumstances the prosecution must prove before a defendant may be sentenced to death. The 3-judge panel split 2-1 on the procedural questions of whether the Ohio Supreme Court had decided the issue on its merits and, if it had not, whether Hutton had provided sufficient grounds for the federal courts to address the issue. Percy "June" Hutton, 62, Black, was convicted in 1986 of fatally shooting Derek Mitchell and trying to kill Samuel Simmons in a dispute over a sewing machine. He was sentenced to death in 1987.