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Arkansas Supreme Court Again Tosses Conviction In 2011 Slaying

Justin Jamaille Thornton

Arkansas' highest court has again tossed the murder conviction of a Lincoln County man in a 2011 shooting death, ruling a lower court didn't have the authority to try him on a lesser charge after the original case was dismissed.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday reversed and dismissed the first-degree murder conviction of Justin Jamaille Thornton in the shooting death of Kwame Turner. Thornton had been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The high court last year had reversed and dismissed Thornton's capital murder conviction in the case. He was then tried on a first-degree murder charge in the case. In Thursday's 4-3 ruling, justices ruled that the lower court didn't have authority to take up the lower murder charge since Thornton's conviction had been dismissed.

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