(CNN) A court in Texas has thrown out the death sentence of convicted killer Raymond Riles, who has spent more than 40 years on the state's death row. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled on Wednesday that Riles' death sentence "can no longer stand" because the jury that sentenced him was not given instructions to consider his mental illness as a possible mitigating factor. The case will be sent back to Harris County, where he was originally tried, for a new punishment proceeding. Riles could be sentenced to death again, one of his lawyers said. Riles, the longest-serving inmate on the Texas death row, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1974 shooting death of Houston used car dealer John Thomas Henry during a robbery.

Source: CNN April 16, 2021 23:03 UTC