wadada_delhall.jpgTALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ The Florida Supreme Court has thrown out the death sentence of a South Florida man in the 2001 murder of an Opa-locka auto repair shop owner.

 

The court upheld Wadada Delhall's first-degree murder conviction, but vacated the death sentence and ordered a new sentencing.

The justices said an overzealous prosecutor tainted the sentencing by appearing committed in closing arguments to winning a death sentence instead of seeking justice.

Delhall was convicted of fatally shooting of Hubert McCrae. Prosecutors said Delhall murdered McCrae because he was the only known eyewitness to the murder of another man named Gilbert Bennett. Delhall's brother, Negus Delhall, was charged in Bennett's slaying.

The trial court imposed the death sentence for Wadada Delhall though the jury split on the death sentence by an 8-4 vote.