Fla. Supreme Court overturns 2 death sentences

 

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The Associated Press

The Florida Supreme Court overturned two death sentences Wednesday, including one given to a Broward County man who shot a woman 26 times with an assault rifle before fatally shooting two random strangers during a crack cocaine rage.

The court cited Ralston Davis' psychosis and mental health at the time of the killings in the decision to convert his death sentence to a life sentence for murdering Myosha Proby, 28, in December 2005. Davis had just been beaten up and blamed Proby for setting him up for the assault. He ordered her to her knees before firing the weapon over and over again. He then left and killed Ravindra Basdeo as he sat in a car at a gas station and Carlos Jones as he left the gas station.

Davis was given the death penalty for Proby's death and life sentences for the Basdeo and Jones murders. The court

The court also overturned a death sentence given to Michael Shellito for the 1994 murder of Sean Hathorne in Duval County and ordered another sentencing hearing. They agreed Shellito's attorney during the penalty phase of the trial didn't make full use of expert testimony that Shellito had an organic brain injury.

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