Retrial or release ordered for inmate

Wed., Nov. 8, 2006

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

BOISE – A man sentenced to death for the 1983 slayings of a young Texas couple camped in the Idaho wilderness must be released or retried, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

Mark Henry Lankford has been on Idaho’s death row for more than two decades for the bludgeoning slayings of U.S. Marine Capt. Robert Bravence and his wife, Cheryl.

The appeals court ruled that Lankford received ineffective assistance from his attorney, and that the state must “retry Mark Lankford within a reasonable time or release him.”

The Bravences were reported overdue from an extended camping trip in north-central Idaho in the summer of 1983. That September hunters discovered their remains hidden at a remote campground.

Lankford and his brother, Bryan Lankford, were arrested, but each blamed the other for the crime. Prosecutors offered Bryan Lankford life in prison in exchange for his testimony against his brother.

Mark Lankford’s attorney, Gregory FitzMaurice, told the jury they could consider Bryan Lankford’s testimony even though it was uncorroborated, the appellate court found.

Though federal law allows uncorroborated testimony, Idaho law forbids it, the 9th Circuit found, so FitzMaurice’s instruction prejudiced the jury against Mark Lankford and effectively denied him his right to effective counsel.

Idaho Deputy Attorney General LaMont Anderson said the state has not yet decided what step to take next, but may ask the appellate court to reconsider its decision, or appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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