Court reinstates death sentence for Gwinnett bank robber

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Supreme Court of Georgia has reserved a lower court's decision and reinstated a death sentence for a man convicted of killing a man shortly after the robbery of a Gwinnett County bank.

The court on Monday released its opinion that sends Michael Wade Nance back to Georgia's death row.

The state had appealed a lower court's ruling that had thrown out his death sentence but upheld his convictions. Nance had claimed that his lawyers were ineffective and should have taken a different strategy in defending him.

Evidence at Nance's trial showed that he robbed the Tucker Federal Bank in Lilburn on Dec. 18, 1993, ran from the bank and then shot and killed Gabor Balogh, who was backing his car out of a parking space at a nearby store.