By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – The Missouri Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of a convicted triple murderer.
The court today reversed the death sentence of Deandra Buchanan, and sentenced the Columbia man to life in prison.
Jurors convicted Buchanan of the November 2000 slayings of his aunt, stepfather and girlfriend, but could not agree on whether he deserved death or life in prison. So Boone County Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton sentenced him to death.
In overturning that sentence, the state Supreme Court cited another ruling that says that judges cannot make life-or-death decisions in cases where juries have deadlocked, without agreeing on any of the aggravating circumstances required for the death sentence.