The Florida Supreme Court issued two decisions denying relief in capital cases.
In v. State, the court denied Deviney’s direct appeal from the death sentence imposed in 2017 in Deviney’s capital resentencing trial. The trial judge had initially sentenced Deviney to death in 2008 under Florida’s unconstitutional judicial factfinding procedures, imposing the death penalty after four of the jurors in the case had voted for a life sentence.
The main issue in Deviney’s appeal involved the trial court’s unconstitutional refusal to excuse a juror whose views “indicat[ed] an unyielding predisposition to vote for death in any case of premeditated murder,” forcing Deviney’s lawyer to exercise one of his discretionary strikes to remove the juror. Four of the seven justices acknowledged that existing Florida case precedent would have required the court to overturn Deviney’s death sentence. However, only one justice Justice Jorge Labarga voted to apply the law to Devin
May 06, 2021 - 4:23 PM
ST. LOUIS - A man who killed his 10-month-old son, ex-girlfriend and her mother in 2012 was spared the death penalty Thursday after a St. Louis jury instead recommended he be sentenced to life in prison.
Eric Lawson, 32, was convicted on Saturday of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend, Breiana Ray, 22, and her mother, Gwendolyn Ray, 50, at their apartment on May 5, 2012. He then set two fires inside the apartment and locked the door as he left, trapping his 10-month-old son, Aiden, prosecutors said.
Aiden s 3-year-old sister, Mckenzie Ray, suffered smoke inhalation but survived.
The jury sentence recommendation came after several of Lawson s relatives testified about his upbringing in poverty, lack of family support and exposure to violence, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
St. Louis man sentenced to life in death of son and 2 others
May 6, 2021
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ST. LOUIS (AP) A man who killed his 10-month-old son, ex-girlfriend and her mother in 2012 was spared the death penalty Thursday after a St. Louis jury instead recommended he be sentenced to life in prison.
Eric Lawson, 32, was convicted on Saturday of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend, Breiana Ray, 22, and her mother, Gwendolyn Ray, 50, at their apartment on May 5, 2012. He then set two fires inside the apartment and locked the door as he left, trapping his 10-month-old son, Aiden, prosecutors said.
Aiden s 3-year-old sister, Mckenzie Ray, suffered smoke inhalation but survived.
Man found guilty of killing baby son, 2 others; he s spared death penalty
On Thursday, the jury recommended Eric Lawson be sentenced to life in prison, and St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Noble accepted the jury s recommendation
Credit: KSDK Published: 7:44 PM CDT May 6, 2021 Updated: 7:45 PM CDT May 6, 2021
ST. LOUIS A St. Louis man found guilty of killing his 10-month-old son, his ex-girlfriend and her mother will not face the death penalty after the jury recommended he be sentenced to life in prison.
Eric Lawson, 32, was convicted over the weekend of fatally shooting 22-year-old Breiana Ray and 50-year-old Gwendolyn Ray before setting an apartment fire that killed his 10-month-old son, Aiden, in 2012.
Daylight Attack on 2 Asian Women in San Francisco Increases Fears
The stabbing on Market Street this week and other attacks have caused some older Asian-American residents in the Bay Area to fear going outdoors, community leaders said.
The stabbing of two women at a bus stop in San Francisco on Tuesday has added to the anxiety of the city’s large Asian-American population.Credit.Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times
May 5, 2021Updated 8:15 p.m. ET
SAN FRANCISCO From her flower stand on Market Street, Patricia Lee saw the glint of a large blade and then feathers from a winter jacket fly through the air. An older woman buckled to her knees.