The full 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed the decision of a three-judge panel that overturned the death sentence of Vernon Brown. The smaller panel of the court had agreed with Brown’s attorney that the trial court erred in not admitting a supportive letter from Brown’s stepbrother during the sentencing phase of his trial. The full court agreed with the trial court’s decision to withhold the letter. Brown was sentenced to death for the 1985 strangulation of Synetta Ford in St. Louis. Brown’s attorney will appeal. It isn’t the only death sentence Brown is under. He also faces the death penalty for the 1986 murder of 9-year-old Janet Perkins.
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