USA - The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has set aside the death-penalty sentence for Chay'im Ben-Sholom

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has set aside the death-penalty sentence for Chay'im Ben-Sholom, convicted in 1986 of killing 58-year-old Silvia Teague, during a burglary on Jan. 23,1985. Chay'im Ben-Sholom, white, jewish, who also went by the name Ryan Michael Marshall, in 1996 had won the right to wear a yarmulke outside his San Quentin State Prison cell, and then started fighting for kosher food. Today the Cort states that there is no question Ben-Sholom had Teague had killed the woman, but the judges found fault with the defendant's legal representation. Ben-Sholom reportedly endured physical and mental abuse by his father growing up. While his layer consulted mental health experts while preparing for his client's trial, none were called to testify. The judges accused the lawyer of failing to seek out or properly use the mental health experts available to him. Citing these and other factors, the district court granted a writ of habeas corpus, taking Ben-Sholom off California's death row, where he has been for more than 21 years. Prosecutors now have 90 days to again begin the process of prosecuting Ben-Sholom for Teague's murder and seeking the death penalty. If they seek not to challenge the district court's ruling, Ben-Sholom would be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Co-defendants John Leroy Calhoun and Christopher Scott Seaman were initially sentenced to death, but their sentences later were reduced to life without the possibility of parole.