CALIFORNIA (USA): DEATH PENALTY TOSSED IN KILLING OF ROCKER'S MOM

July 19, 2012: The California Supreme Court has tossed out the death sentence for John Riccardi, 76, white.
The justices said the trial judge hearing the case against Riccardi improperly dismissed a prospective juror because of her conflicting death penalty views. The court said the judge was required to ask if the potential juror could still impose the death sentence despite her views. The unanimous ruling upheld Riccardi’s murder conviction.
Riccardi had been on death row since 1994 for the 1983 murders of Connie Navarro, 41, his then-girlfriend, and her friend Sue Jory, 42. Riccardi was arrested in Houston eight years after the killings when “America’s Most Wanted” aired a segment on the 1983 crime.
Connie Hopkins Navarro was the mother of Jane’s Addiction and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro. (Source: Associated Press, 19/07/2012)