USA - Oregon. Judge Gayle Nachtigal overturned Jason Van Brumwell's death sentence

Circuit Judge Gayle Nachtigal upheld Jason Van Brumwell's murder conviction but overturned his death sentence. The judge wrote that Brumwell's attorneys failed "to exercise professional skill and judgment" by not offering evidence that could have swayed the jury to reject the death penalty sought by prosecutors. Had the lawyers done a better job, "there is a reasonable probability" that the jury would have sentenced Brumwell to a life sentence, the judge wrote. Brumwell, now 39, and fellow inmate Gary Haugen attacked fellow inmate David Polin, 31, in 2003 inside the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. At the time of the prison killing, Brumwell was already serving life behind bars for his role in a 1994 murder of a store clerk.