TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court is ordering new sentencing hearings for four inmates currently on the state's death row.
The high court on Thursday threw out the sentences because a jury did not unanimously recommend the death penalty in the cases.
The Court ruled that death sentences have to be unanimous, and anyone sentenced after a 2002 ruling could be eligible for a new sentence.
Among those getting a new hearing is Michael Bargo, who was convicted for taking part in the 2011 murder and torture of a Marion County teenager.
Bargo was the last of five defendants to be sentenced in the April 2011 murder of Seath Jackson in Summerfield, near Ocala.
Prosecutors said Jackson was lured to the home where he was beaten, shot and tortured before his body was burned in a backyard fire pit. The teen's remains were then placed into three paint buckets and dumped into a limerock pit.
He was one of the youngest defendants on death row.
Because the jury voted 10-2 to give Bargo the death penalty in the original trial, State Attorney Brad King told Channel 9 that he expects to seek capital punishment in the re-sentencing.
Tiffany Ann Cole will also be getting a new sentence. She was convicted for her role in the 2005 murder of a Jacksonville couple that was buried alive.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Associated Press
