Court Orders Changes in Death Sentencing
The Nebraska Supreme Court ordered two killers removed from death row and said three-judge panels no longer can impose the death penalty without a unanimous vote.
The court ordered C. Michael Anderson and Peter Hochstein sentenced to life in prison. The pair have been on death row 23 years after being sentenced to die on a 2-1 vote for the 1975 contract killing of an Omaha real estate developer.
The two men are the only ones on Nebraska’s death row who were put there by a sentencing panel’s split decision. Colorado, the only other state to use sentencing panels, requires unanimous decisions.
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