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Criminal

Dec. 28, 2001

Death Penalty Tossed After Jury Weighed 'Propensity'

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a Kern County double-murder conviction and death sentence, holding that a faulty jury instruction invited jurors to consider the defendant's bad character and alleged propensity to kill as evidence of his guilt.


By Pamela A. MacLean
Daily Journal Staff Writer
        SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a Kern County double-murder conviction and death sentence, holding that a faulty jury instruction invited jurors to consider the defendant's bad character and alleged propensity to kill as evidence of his guilt.
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