Appellate judges ruled that recent changes in law invalidated the legal theory on which the three former jail deputies were convicted; prosecutors are expected to decide whether to re-try the case.
The conviction came only after the jury in the 2017 trial was given a key instruction by the judge: It was told that it could consider a legal theory known as “natural and probable consequences,” which would allow it to find a defendant guilty of murder even if the person may not have committed the killing, because the victim’s death was a natural consequence of the defendant’s actions.
The state Attorney General’s Office can appeal the Monday ruling, and did not immediately return a request for comment. Short of an appeal, Goethals’ conclusion will stand, and per his ruling, “the prosecution may elect to retry defendants on a valid theory or theories of homicide with a properly instructed jury.”
During the initial trial, prosecutors relayed to the jury text messages between the defendants suggesting that they reveled in rough treatment of inmates, and Rodriguez was reported to have conducted a web search titled, “Can you die if someone punches you in the armpit?” the day after Tyree died. “The NPC theory provided to the jury by the trial court and specifically invoked by the prosecutor, removed from the jury the critical task of determining any defendant’s subjective risk awareness as the fatal events unfolded inside Tyree’s cell,” Goethals wrote.
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