The Missouri Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence for a man convicted of killing the mother of his child and her boyfriend in southern Missouri’s Dent County in December 2011.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that the circuit court committed errors during the trial. The decision was written by Judge Mary R. Russell. The Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction for 51-year-old Marvin Rice but has ordered a new penalty phase trial. That’s because the Supreme Court says the circuit court abused its discretion in overruling Rice’s objections that prosecutors said in closing arguments that Rice declined to testify. Rice was convicted of killing Annette Durham and her boyfriend, Steven Strotkamp.
