A fed­er­al judge has over­turned one of California’s old­est death sen­tences based on his find­ing that the 1979 tri­al of Earl Lloyd Jackson was taint­ed by unre­li­able jail­house infor­mants and poor rep­re­sen­ta­tion. ​“The spe­cial cir­cum­stance find­ing and the death sen­tences in this case rest on an evi­den­tiary foun­da­tion con­struct­ed large­ly from the false tes­ti­mo­ny of two jail­house infor­mants,” wrote U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie in his rul­ing. Rafeedie fur­ther found a ​“dere­lic­tion of duty” by pros­e­cu­tors and Jackson’s defense attor­ney, not­ing that pros­e­cu­tors allowed two jail­house infor­mants to lie to the jury about favor­able deals they received in exchange for their tes­ti­mo­ny, and that Jackson’s attor­ney failed to put on any defense dur­ing the penal­ty phase of the tri­al. This is the 6th death sen­tence to be over­turned in California this year, and more than 85 cas­es have been reversed by the state or fed­er­al courts since 1987. Jackson, who has been on California’s death row longer than all but 3 of the more than 620 pris­on­ers await­ing exe­cu­tion, remains in prison for the crime. (Knight Ridder Tribune, September 9, 2004) See Representation and Sentencing.

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