USA - South Carolina. Judge Ben Culbertson has overturned a death sentence for Louis Winkler, sentencing Winkler to life

Judge Ben Culbertson has overturned a death sentence for Louis Winkler, sentencing Louis Winkler to life in prison, citing errors made by his defense attorney at trial. Winkler was sentenced on February 8, 2008 (see) after he was convicted of murder and 1st-degree burglary in the March 6, 2006 death of his wife, Rebekah Grainger Winkler. The state Supreme Court upheld Winkler's death sentence in 2010. But in an 11-page ruling, Judge Ben Culbertson - who presided over a four-day post-conviction relief trial earlier this summer - said Winkler's original attorneys made mistakes during the trial. During those original proceedings, Culbertson wrote, Winkler asked for new attorneys but was denied. When jurors deadlocked after 10 hours of deliberation, the judge told them they must reach a unanimous decision but didn't ever explain to them how things would be handled if they remained at a standstill.