Supreme Court overturns death penalty in Cape woman's murder

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Southeast Missouri man facing two death sentences got one of them lifted Tuesday by the state Supreme Court because it had been imposed by a judge.

The Missouri Supreme Court resentenced Andrew Lyons, 49, to life in prison for the September 1992 murder of Evelyn Sparks, of Cape Gir-ardeau, who was the mother of his girlfriend.

The court left in place his death sentence for the slaying of his girlfriend, Bridgette Harris.

In 1996 a jury convicted Lyons of first-degree murder in the deaths of both women, as well as involuntary manslaughter for the death of his infant son, Dontay Harris. The jury recommended a seven-year sentence for Dontay's death and the death penalty for Harris' murder.

But jurors could not agree on a sentence for Sparks' death, so the decision was left to the judge, who imposed a second death sentence.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an Arizona case that the U.S. Constitution's right to a trial by a jury also applies to death sentences.

The Missouri Supreme Court subsequently applied that decision, meaning that people cannot be sentenced to death by judges after juries are unable to agree on whether the aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating factors in death penalty hearings.