USA - Oklahoma. Upheld the decision to overturn the death sentence of Michael Allen Browning, 37, Black.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision by U.S. Senior District Judge Terence Kern to overturn the death verdicts that were imposed at the 2003 trial of Michael Allen Browning, 37, Black. The decision "will not be appealed. Our focus now is to start contacting witnesses and prepare for another trial," said Tulsa County First Assistant District Attorney Doug Drummond. In a 2011 decision, Kern ruled that Browning was entitled to relief based on a pretrial ruling by a Tulsa County judge not to order the disclosure of the mental-health records of a vital prosecution witness. Jurors who found Browning guilty decided that he deserved the death penalty for the 1st-degree murders of Harry and Teresa Hye, plus a life sentence for shooting their niece with an intent to kill. Investigators said Harry Hye, 64; his wife, Teresa Hye, 42; and their niece, Cenessa Tackett, then 21, were shot during a robbery Feb. 18, 2001. The 10th Circuit's opinion says that "what the jury did not know - and the defense attorneys also did not know - that the most important witness at trial had been diagnosed with a severe mental disorder." (See also Feb. 7, 2003)