Man on death row to receive new hearing

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A man convicted of fatally stabbing his wife and stepdaughter has won a new hearing on whether he should be sentenced to death.

The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a judge should have instructed jurors -- during both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial -- not to draw any adverse inference from Bobby Joe Mayes' failure to testify.

Mayes had been sentenced to die for the Aug. 10, 1998, slayings of Sondra Mayes, 39, and Amanda Perkins, 14. Although overturning Mayes' death sentence, the Supreme Court upheld his convictions.

Pulaski County Judge Douglas Long Jr. had instructed jurors not to draw any conclusions against Mayes because of his failure to testify during the guilt phase of his trial.

But when a defense attorney requested the same jury instruction for the penalty phase, the state objected and the judge refused to issue the instruction.

The Supreme Court said the judge erred and cited the protection against self-incrimination in the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

On appeal, state attorneys conceded that the jury instruction ought to have been given during the penalty phase but argued that it made little difference in the jury's decision.

The state, in its court filings, had argued that failure to provide such instructions is "virtually always harmless" and "should almost never require reversal."

Supreme Court judges rejected that argument.

"To suggest that it is optional denigrates this basic and fundamental constitutional right," Judge Laura Denvir Stith wrote for the court.