USA - Pennsylvania. U.S. District Judge C. Darnell Jones II has set aside the death sentence and 1st-degree murder conviction of Frank Chester, 42, white

U.S. District Judge C. Darnell Jones II has set aside the death sentence and 1st-degree murder conviction of Frank Chester, 42, white, convicted in 1987 in the murder of Anthony Milano. The case has since then been described as the first U.S. death penalty case involving an anti-gay hate crime. The original jury found that Chester and co-defender Richard Laird abducted Milano, 26, from a bar on Dec. 15, 1987, and hacked out his throat with a box cutter. Prosecutors argued that Laird and Chester targeted Milano because they believed he was gay. Both were sentenced to death in 1988 in Bucks County Court. The murder conviction and death sentence for Laird were overturned 10 years ago (see Sept. 7, 2001), but Laird was sentenced to death again in 2007 (see Feb. 13, 2007). Jones vacated the 1st-degree murder conviction and death sentence without prejudice, so prosecutors may be able to reinstate them, as they did with Laird. In his numerous appeals, Chester has raised legal issues including claims that his original trial attorney had personal legal problems stemming from a DUI arrest 2 months before Chester's trial that may have influenced the trial strategy he used. In his ruling, Jones said the federal court will hold an evidentiary hearing on Chester's conflict-of-interest claim stemming from his first trial. Chester says his lawyer never told him about the DUI arrest and claimed in 2006 that the attorney lost the murder case on purpose to "curry favor" with the court.