JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man who spent eight years on death row is back in court this week, after his death sentence was overturned.
Robert Earl Peterson was convicted in 2009 of murdering his stepfather, a retired Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer.
Because the original jury’s death verdict was not unanimous, Peterson must be resentenced. That’s the result of a Supreme Court decision in 2016 that overturned many death sentences.
The trial is expected to last through the week.
Peterson was 41 at the time of the crime and had been living at home with his mother and his stepfather. Andrews had been Peterson’s stepfather since Peterson was 15.
Shortly before the murder, Peterson’s mother, at the urging of Andrews, told Peterson he had to move out. Also at Andrews’ insistence, Peterson’s mother stopped providing Peterson with money.
Andrews was beaten and shot twice in Jacksonville, with his body left in the Greenlawn Cemetery very close to where Peterson’s ex-girlfriend was buried.
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