Portion of Verdict on Murderer Overturned
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LOS ANGELES — The 2nd District Court of Appeal has set aside the special circumstances finding for Edward Frank Murrietta, 26, sentenced to life without possibility of parole for the 1980 robbery and first-degree murder of Charlie E. Griffith, 79, in his Pico Rivera apartment.
The appellate justices said jurors were never instructed, as required by a recent California Supreme Court ruling, that they must find that Murrietta intended to kill Griffith during the robbery. The justices said the special circumstances issue, which could alter Murietta’s sentence, can be retried.
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