Path to New Trial Opens for Alabama Murder Convict After 35 Years on Death Row

Michael Sockwell was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1990. (Credit: Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)

Convicted murderer Michael Sockwell could get a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court declined Alabama Appellate Courts' appeal of a lower court ruling.

On 2 March, the US Supreme Court rejected the state's request to review a lower court ruling in the case of Michael Sockwell, 63. Sockwell was convicted of murder in 1990 and given the death sentence.