08 April 2026 :

April 6, 2026 - California. Omar Deen's death sentence overturned

In a rare move, the state Supreme Court unanimously overturned the convictions and death sentence Monday of a man who was found guilty of murdering his mother and the police chief who tried to protect her. The court said the trial judge wrongly seated a juror who was friends with the police chief and had planned to attend his funeral.

The court, which has 6 Democratic appointees and 1 Republican, has upheld nearly all the death sentences it has considered in recent years. This was only the 3rd time in more than 3 years that the justices have overturned a defendant’s capital murder conviction as well as his death sentence.

Omar Deen, now 57, was convicted of fatally shooting his mother, Rachel Deen, and Police Chief J. Leonard Speer in March 1998. He was sentenced to death in October 2000. Rachel Deen had inherited several hundred thousand dollars when her husband died 3 years earlier, and prosecutors said her son wanted the money. He was arrested after attacking his mother and an officer who tried to protect her, but was later allowed to return to his home, where Speer was sent to serve him with a restraining order. When Speer arrived, the court said, Omar Deen punched him, then grabbed Speer’s gun and fatally shot his mother and the police chief.

Monday’s ruling returns Deen's case to Superior Court for a possible retrial

The case is People v. Deen, No. S092615.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/death-sentence-overturned-22191975.php