08 January 2018 :

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has granted a new trial to California death-row prisoner Francis Hernandez. In a 2-1 opinion, the Court held that Hernandez's trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and present a diminished mental capacity defense based on mental impairment. Hernandez was sentenced to death in Los Angeles County on July 12, 1983 for the forcible rape, sodomy and murder of two young women, Edna Bristol and Kathleen Ryan, in early 1981.