16 September 2010 :

The Virginia Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of Joshua Andrews, 27, black. Andrews was convicted of killing Romanno A. Head and Robert I. Morrison, both 22, on Jan. 2, 2002. Justices ruled that 2 of his convictions constituted double jeopardy, the constitutional protection against being tried twice for the same crime. Jurors convicted Andrews of both killing more than 1 person as part of the same act and of killing more than 1 person within a 3-year period. The court also said that the trial court erred by excluding a poem Andrews wrote from mitigating evidence and that it improperly excluded the testimony of a social work expert on the likelihood that Andrews would commit future crimes. A jury sentenced Andrews too death on Aug. 3, 2007, and Circuit Court Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. sentenced Andrews on Nov. 5, 2007.