USA - Washington. Judge Rosanne Buckner sentenced Allen Eugene Gregory, 39, to death

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Rosanne Buckner sentenced Allen Eugene Gregory, 39, to death. A jury sentenced him to death on May 15 (see). Gregory was originally sentenced in May 2001 for the July 27, 1996 rape, robbery and killing of Geneine Ann Harshfield, 43. But on November 30, 2006 (see) the Washington Supreme Court overturned the sentence, citing judicial and prosecutorial error. In 2000 Gregory was convicted of 3 counts of 1st-degree rape, information that his 2001 jury was privy to in deciding to sentence Gregory to death in the murder of Harshfield. However, the 2000 rape conviction was later overturned by the Washington State Supreme Court, which ruled the court abused its powers when it refused to review evidence related to the victim's history of drug use that could have aided Gregory's defense. Since the jury in Gregory's 2001 aggravated 1st-degree murder trial heard evidence of his now-invalid rape conviction during sentencing, and it likely impacted the decision to hand down his initial death sentence, that death sentence was also overturned.