19 January 2010 :

The Florida Supreme Court vacated the 1988 death sentences against Paul Beasley Johnson, 60, white, who in 1981 killed a Sheriff's deputy and 2 others. New penalty phases must now be held in Johnson's cases. The 3 murder convictions against him were left intact. Misconduct by the original prosecutor, Hardy Pickard, forced Supreme Court justices to send the case back to Circuit Court in Bartow for resentencing, according to the court's ruling. "His misconduct tainted the state's case at every stage of the proceedings and irremediably compromised the integrity of the entire 1988 penalty phase proceeding," the justices wrote. "This is not a case of overzealous advocacy, but rather a case of deliberately misleading both the trial court and this Court." According to court records, Johnson kidnapped, robbed and shot William Evans, a taxi driver, on Jan. 8, 1981, and Deputy Sheriff T.A. Burnham and Darryl Beasley on Jan. 9.