BOSTON (AP) — A man who was sentenced to death, then given a reprieve in two Massachusetts killings plans to ask a judge to bar federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty a second time.
Gary Lee Sampson’s lawyers filed a list of motions they intend to file or are thinking about filing before Sampson has a second sentencing trial in February.
Sampson pleaded guilty in the 2001 carjackings and killings of two Massachusetts men and was later sentenced to death. That sentenced was overturned in 2011 after a judge found a juror had lied about her background.
Sampson’s lawyers say they are likely to argue more than two dozen reasons to bar the death penalty in Sampson’s case, including the fact that Massachusetts has no state death penalty. Sampson was prosecuted under the federal death penalty statute.
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