Idaho v. Lankford
Annotate this CaseA jury convicted Mark Lankford on two counts of felony murder for the 1983 murders of Robert and Cheryl Bravance, for which he received the death penalty. The United States Supreme Court overturned the sentence after it found that the State of Idaho failed to give notice that the death penalty could have been imposed in his case. Lankford was retried and again found guilty, and was sentenced to two life sentences. The district court denied Lankford’s first and second motions for new trial. Lankford timely appealed the denial of his motions for new trial. Lankford also filed a pro se Rule 35 motion for correction of an illegal sentence which the district court found to be untimely. Lankford argued to the Idaho Supreme Court that the district court erred in multiple ways and that he was entitled to another new trial. The State argued that Lankford failed to prove that reversible error was committed by the district court and that Lankford’s convictions should be affirmed. After review of the district court record, the Idaho Supreme Court concluded that the prosecutor in Lankford's case engaged in prosecutorial misconduct such that a new trial was warranted. Accordingly, the Supreme Court vacated the district court's judgment and remanded for a new trial.
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