Calif. Supreme Court reverses 2nd death sentence
After upholding 46 consecutive death sentences over two years, the state Supreme Court on Monday issued its second reversal in two months, granting a new sentencing trial to a Long Beach man because the judge at his rape-murder trial dismissed a juror who had mixed feelings about the death penalty.
While unanimously overturning Kevin Pearson's death sentence, the court upheld his convictions for taking part in the kidnapping, rape, robbery, torture and murder of Penny Sigler.
The 43-year-old woman left her Long Beach home one night in December 1998 to go to the store, carrying $6 worth of food stamps her roommate had given her. Her nude body was found the next day on a freeway embankment with numerous fractures and other injuries.
Pearson and co-defendants Warren Hardy and Jamelle Armstong were convicted of murder in separate trials and sentenced to death. Pearson's jury found that he had not killed Sigler but had aided in the attack. He told police he had raped and beaten her, but later said his confession was coerced. The other men's appeals are awaiting review by the state's high court.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/09/BAD41MMVF5.DTL