USA - Texas. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out the death sentence of Daryl Wheatfall

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out the death sentence of Daryl Wheatfall, now 49, Black. The state's highest criminal court ruled that jurors who sent Wheatfall to death row in 1992 had instructions during his trial's punishment phase that have been found unconstitutional. His trial was held at a time when the Texas jury instructions covering mitigation issues in death penalty cases were evolving under U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The appeals court has ordered his case be returned to the trial court in Harris County for a new sentencing hearing. Wheatfall was convicted of the December 13, 1990 slayings of James Fitzgerald and his wife, L.B., following an argument over $50.