Appeals court vacates Florida inmate's death sentence

ATLANTA - A federal appeals court has vacated the death sentence of a Florida man convicted of a murder in Jacksonville in 1984, when he was a 25-year-old drug dealer. <br> <br> A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a federal hearing must be held to consider evidence that the jury did not hear before recommending the death sentence for John Gary Hardwick Jr. <br> <br> Hardwick was convicted in 1986 of shooting and stabbing Randall Keith Pullum, who he believed had stolen his drugs. On appeal, he claimed his trial lawyer did not effectively present a defense that could have spared him from execution. <br> <br> State courts in Florida and a federal judge did not agree with Hardwick&#39;s contention that his court-appointed attorney&#39;s failure to show evidence of an abusive childhood and gross intoxication on drugs and alcohol at the time of the slaying constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. <br> <br> The Atlanta appeals court, in a 2-1 ruling, said the testimony could have swayed the jury to spare Hardwick&#39;s life. <br> <br> ``This omission kept from the judge and jury knowledge that, at the time of the murder, Hardwick could have lacked the judgement to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law,&#39;&#39; said the opinion by Judges Gerald Bard Tjoflat and Stanley F. Birch Jr. <br> <br> Judge R. Lanier Anderson III disagreed with part of the decision but agreed with the rest.