View Mobile Site  Death sentence for 1998 killing overturned
Text Size: Small Large Medium POSTED January 9, 2012 5:52 p.m.
The state's high court upheld the first-degree murder conviction
of Kevin Pearson, 34, but overturned his sentence and ordered a
new penalty phase hearing. The court said that the original
judge erred in granting a prosecution request to excuse a
potential juror on grounds that she gave conflicting responses
when asked whether she could vote for the death penalty in the
case. The woman had said she had no strong feelings about the
death penalty and responded at one point, "I'm not sure where I
stand,'" according to the Supreme Court's decision. However, the
woman's "vague, indefinite or unformed" views on capital
punishment didn't mean she would be unable to follow her jury
oath and consider the death penalty in the case, and in fact the
woman had said several times that she could vote for death in an
appropriate case, the court said. The court, citing jury
instruction errors, also ove