SENTENCE OVERTURNED FOR CONVICTED KILLER IN BRAZOS CO.

  

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out the death sentence of a Brazos County man, convicted of killing a woman at her College Station home in 2010.

Texas' highest criminal court ruled today (Wednesday) to return the case of 50-year-old Stanley Griffin to the Brazos County trial court for a new punishment hearing.

By a 6-3 vote, the court says that while evidence in the case does support a murder conviction, it is insufficient for a capital murder conviction.

Griffin was found guilty of strangling 29-year-old Jennifer Hailey in the course of kidnapping her son. Hailey's then 9-year-old son, who had been stabbed, called his grandmother to say a man killed his mother and choked him.

The court says there's no evidence the boy was kidnapped and that he was attacked after his mother was killed.