A jury in Arizona acquit­ted Christopher Huerstel of first-degree mur­der and of attempt­ed armed rob­bery of a Tucson pizze­ria in which 3 peo­ple were killed. Huerstel, who was 17-years-old at the time the crime was com­mit­ted, was orig­nal­ly con­vict­ed along with a co-defen­dant and both were sen­tenced to death in 2001. His con­vic­tion was over­turned by the Arizona Supreme Court because of errors by the tri­al judge. The jury at the re-tri­al was unable to reach a ver­dict on sec­ond-degree mur­der, and Huerstel may face anoth­er tri­al on that charge. The defense claims that the pros­e­cu­tion had argued that there was no evi­dence of sec­ond-degree mur­der. The pros­e­cu­tion was not able to seek the death penal­ty at Huerstel’s re-tri­al because he had been a juvenile. 

(Tucson Citizen, Oct. 5, 2005). See pos­si­ble Innocence and Juveniles.

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