JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors are seeking a new death-penalty sentencing hearing for a Jacksonville man who got off death row last month — more than 30 years after the crime occurred.
The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville reports (http://bit.ly/1PiadmA) that 56-year-old James Gary Hardwick was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of 17-year-old Keith Pullum on Christmas Eve 1984. U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams ordered the death sentence thrown out in Jacksonville last month because he said Hardwick didn't receive adequate legal representation.
Adams upheld Hardwick's conviction but said prosecutors had to either seek a new death-penalty sentencing hearing or allow Hardwick to be resentenced to life in prison.
State attorney spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard says the office is committed to seeking justice for the case's victims.
Attorneys for Hardwick declined to comment.
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