News about Wes Quick's sentence being overturned...

After 6 years on death row, Wesley Quick has been acquitted of killing 2
men at an isolated creek in his 3rd trial for the 1995 shooting deaths.

Quick, who was sent to death row after his second trial ended in a
conviction in 1997, won a third trial on appeal and was acquitted Monday
with the help of a new defense team including a lawyer representing actor
Robert Blake in his Los Angeles murder case.

Quick, now 26, was accused of killing John Hughes and Nathan King, who
were gunned down at Turkey Creek in Jefferson County.

Quick's first trial was declared a mistrial because of juror misconduct.
After being convicted and sent to death row at his 2nd trial, the Alabama
Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a 3rd trial in 2001, saying Quick was
indigent and the trial judge was wrong to deny him a free copy of the
transcript from the 1st trial.

Birmingham defense lawyer Charles Salvagio, who handled the case with Los
Angeles lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr., said Quick should never have been on
death row and that justice was done Monday because the "truth came out."

Mesereau, who is also representing actor Blake in the 2001 killing of
Blake's wife, and Salvagio did not represent Quick in his 1st 2 trials.

Mesereau said the defense's success at discrediting prosecution witnesses
and new information introduced when Quick testified were the keys to
getting the acquittal.

"I believe an innocent man was properly treated by the jury," said
Mesereau.

The acquittal shocked the victims' relatives.

King's sister, Monica Tidmore, said the jury "let a murderer go."

Quick was accused of shooting the men in front of acquaintance Shellie
Kitchen. Jason Beninati, described as a friend of Quick in 1995, and
several other witnesses last week testified Quick had talked about wanting
to kill people.

Quick previously testified he was high on drugs and couldn't remember the
murders. But at his latest trial, Quick testified that Beninati killed the
men and threatened that he would kill Kitchen if Quick told police.

"He had been threatened that if he spoke up, he would be killed," Mesereau
said of his client.

But prosecutors argued Quick had no reason to fear Beninati because he had
been out of the state since 1997 and Kitchen, who died last year of
natural causes, was in jail from 1995 to 1997.

Beninati said Quick picked him up after the incident and 2 witnesses
testified Beninati was not at the scene during the killings.

Defense lawyers argued that Beninati knew too much about the crime without
being at the crime scene.

Quick still faces 3 burglary charges.

(source: Associated Press)

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