Arkansas Supreme Court overturns murder conviction of death row inmate.
Erickson Dimas-Martinez was convicted of murder last year for killing and robbing 17-year-old Derrick Jeffersonin 2006. He received the death penalty for the crime, and was awaiting execution by lethal injection on death row.
However, Arkansas Supreme Court judges have had to overturn the conviction due to inappropriate tweeting by a juror while the trial was ongoing. Juror Randy Franco had posted several musings to Twitter during the trial. “Choices to be made. Hearts to be broken… We each define the great line,” one of his tweets read.
Dimas-Martinez’ lawyers had appealed against the conviction as the judge had instructed the jury not to post comments on the Internet, or discuss the case using their mobile devices in court. The judge scalded Mr Franco about his actions shortly after becoming aware of them.
“I’m waiting for the other 11 to [jurors] to help me come to a conclusion… I have not seen death in my life, like, firsthand. So the talk of death is a little uncomfortable just because it’s an unknown – it’s an unknown area for me,” Mr Franco told the judge.
