22 January 2018 :

State Supreme Court Throws Out Death Sentence of Bryan Hulsey. It is the 4th time in 18 months that a high court throws out a death penalty from Maricopa County because a judge did not instruct juries there was no possibility the defendant would someday be released on parole if they did not sentence him to death. Bryan Wayne Hulsey, 44, White, was convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to death for killing police Officer Anthony Holly on Feb. 19, 2007 after a routine traffic stop (see August 28, 2014). The court found that by not telling jurors that Hulsey was ineligible for parole - the state abolished parole in 1993 - was error and not harmless." Because of that, the justices have ordered the Superior Court judge to hold a new sentencing trial. In each of the death penalty cases where the verdict was thrown out, prosecutors were allowed to leave jurors with the impression that the defendant could theoretically pose a danger down the road. The other three sentences thrown out were those of Jasper Rushing (November 6, 2017), Joel Escalante Orozco (January 12, 2017), and Shawn Lynch (May 31, 2016).