A split federal appellate panel on Monday upheld a Sacramento judge’s ruling that a death row inmate’s conviction and sentence for a gruesome double murder in Chico almost 29 years ago was tainted by racism and cannot stand. [Crittenden v. Chappell, No. 13-17327]
Two years ago, U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller threw out the jury’s 1989 guilty verdict and death sentence of Steven Edward Crittenden. Mueller faulted the prosecutor’s dismissal of the only African American in the jury pool and ordered the state to set Crittenden free unless Butte County cranked up a new trial within 60 days.