JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida appeals court has reinstated a conviction and two life sentences for a man who killed a Jacksonville firefighter.
The Florida Times-Union reports that Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal originally threw out the 2014 conviction of Charles Edward Pearce in December.
The court ruled that Duval County Circuit Judge Tatiana Salvador made an error when she refused to let defense attorneys show a video interview of Pearce after he was arrested in Arizona in 2011.
Pearce was arrested two weeks after the murder of Michael McCue and attempted murder of his stepfather, Michael Otis Sr.
The attorneys said the video showed Pearce's insanity, but Salvador didn't show it because Pearce was arrested two weeks after the shootings took place.
On Wednesday, the court ruled that any error that might have occurred was harmless.
Cox Media Group
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