20 April 2010 :

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new sentencing trial for Anthony Leroy Pierce. The ruling leaves intact the capital murder conviction for Pierce, 50, black, but orders a new punishment trial. Pierce has been on Texas' death row for 32 years. Only 3 prisoners have been there longer. Pierce has been tried 3 times for the Aug. 4, 1977, robbery and murder of Fred Johnson, a 40-year-old fried chicken restaurant manager. Pierce's first 2 capital murder convictions were overturned on appeal. The appeals court declined to consider Pierce's claims of ineffective trial counsel and mental retardation making him ineligible for execution. In ordering a new sentencing trial, the 3-judge federal panel said the Harris County jury in Pierce's third trial in 1986 was kept from considering mitigating evidence as required by law. Such evidence could have persuaded jurors he didn't deserve a death sentence. The conviction from Pierce's 1st trial was thrown out by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because of a jury selection problem. A similar jury problem got his 2nd trial result tossed on appeal.