the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a St. Louis death penalty case today...

24 May 2007 :

the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a St. Louis death penalty case today, saying the case – which centered on inflammatory comments by a prosecutor - should never have reached them. The court's 6-3 decision upholds the lower, federal court and sets aside the death penalty for William Weaver, now 45, from his conviction in the 1987 execution-style murder of Charles Taylor, 48. Taylor was set to be a witness in a federal drug trial.
In the murder trial, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney George R. "Buzz" Westfall compared the juror's role in sentencing to that of a soldier who knows he has a duty to kill when he sees his friend's brains blown out on the battlefield. "You've got to kill, because it's right," Westfall told the jurors.
 

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