28 May 2010 :

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned 2-1 the death penalty of Danny Keith Hooks in a notorious multiple murder case, citing problems with instructions given to jurors. Hooks, 51, black, was convicted in 1998 of stabbing 5 women to death on May 16, 1992. 4 of the victims were raped. Hooks received 5 death sentences. Sandra Thompson, 35; Phyllis Adams, 47; LaShawn Evans, 30; Carolyn Watson, 37; and Fransill Roberts, 34; were found dead at a crack house in Oklahoma City. The slayings were unsolved for years before DNA recovered from the crime scene was matched to Hooks, who had previously been convicted in Oklahoma for distributing narcotics and in California for rape, kidnapping and assault. An Oklahoma County jury found him guilty of 5 counts of 1st-degree murder. During deliberations after the penalty phase of the trial, jurors were deadlocked at 11-1 in favor of the death penalty. They asked the judge to replace 1 juror with an alternate because she was basing her decision "on grounds not related to the law." That request was denied. Within 10 minutes, the jury foreman sent a note to the judge saying the jury was "unable to reach a unanimous sentence." The defense moved for a mistrial, but the judge instructed jurors to keep deliberating. Ultimately, Hooks received the death penalty. In their majority opinion, the appeals court judges said the trial judge's instruction, along with inaccurate statements by prosecutors during closing arguments, "coerced the jury into returning death sentences." For that reason, the death sentences were overturned.