David Riley Capital Murder Conviction REVERSED!

Was this Judge Mike Jones?

Never understood how is partner in crime got such a lite sentence.

Good point, bubbaluck since this was reversed on "plain error" grounds. His attorney didn't object to the failure to give a curative instruction so only the death penalty preserved it for review.

Yes, it was Jones. What a nightmare for that family.

What a horrible nite mare for Scott Kirtley's Family. If anyone ever deserves a Death Penatly, David Riley should. The though of what Scott was thinking as he was took to the back room , and David Riley braging of what a Famous MF he was ,to his cousin from a recored phone while locked up , and him telling his Step Mom if he had not left the 3rd Video that he did not know about, he may not have gotten caught !! So not sorry for he did , but sorry he got caught !

Bama, you are right. But with the death penalty, the Kirtley family can look forward to years of appeals and re-trials. I am thankful I have never been in that position but I think I would prefer to know that the defendant would die in prison with a life sentence.

I still have not saw anything in the Times Daily or anything on TV about this ! It was Friday when the ruling came down, if I am not mistaken.

I certainly hope he does not get out of this.
It would be nice if he would just plead guilty like the Nards an Widdowson did.

It was Friday. They may get around to reporting on it today sometime.

I see no way he could get out of this, yes maybe a plea , but if not a plea , it maybe moved away from Lauderdale Co. for the new trial . I see no way any Jury would not come back with nothing but the same Verdict !! But stranger things have happened.

If the system keeps giving people the death penalty without evidence as the case with russellville lady who was charged with capital murder charged with setting house on fire killing her child and given death penalty without any evidence it is going to hurt the death penalty and make it hard to execute murderers that have clear evidence on them.

All death penalty sentences in Alabama are automatically appealed. That is the law. That provision of law is a good one, since it places a responsibility on the trial court to DO THINGS RIGHT where the very life of the accused is at stake. That means that trial court judges know that bad work on their part will result in an embarrassing overturn on appeal. In Alabama, that is of particular importance, since this state is so stingy in its funding for court-appointed lawyers for death penalty appeals (or for any other legal services for indigent defendants, for that matter).

Mike Jones apparently made the boo-boo that resulted in this reversal, abetted by the zealousness and bad judgment of the prosecutors. I suspect that after all appeals are exhausted and a new trial is carried out, the defendant will either receive the death sentence or a life wihout parole term. But if anyone wants to complain about the current status of the case, don't blame the system The blame lies with the judge and the prosecutors.

And don't blame the defendant's lawyers. The Equal Justice Initiative handles numerous death penalty appeals in this state and they do so because death penalty defendants are legally entitled to attorney representation. That organization provides a valuable contribution to quality control of the court system in this state. Their work has resulted in exoneration of wrongly-convicted defendants in a number of cases. I do not believe for a moment that Riley is not guilty, but I do believe in the highest quality of performance of the state's judicial system--especially in capital cases-- and unfortunately that quality was not attained in Riley's trial.

Problem is we paid for Judge Jones's mistake.