12 January 2017 :

In Boston a federal jury has sentenced Gary Lee Sampson, 57, White, to death for the murder of two Massachusetts men in 2001. Lee Sampson was sentenced to death for the murder of Jonathan Rizzo (19). In addition, Sampson will receive an automatic life term for the murder of Philip McCloskey, 69, because the jury could not come to a unanimous verdict. It was Sampson's 2nd death penalty case following his 2001 killing spree. Sampson was sentenced to death in 2003 (see 23/12/2003 and 29/01/2004) for the same facts after he pleaded guilty, but on October 20, 2011 (see) Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf threw out the death penalty against Sampson, and ordered a new trial. Judge Wolf was the same judge who sentenced Sampson in 2004. The federal judge ruled that Sampson was denied his constitutional right to have his sentence decided by an impartial jury because 3 jurors had given inaccurate answers to questions they were asked during the jury selection process. In 2003 Sampson was also convicted of killing Robert "Eli" Whitney, but because he was not carjacked, that particular killing is not punishable by death.