RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A federal appeals court has ordered a lower court to hold a hearing on a Virginia death row inmate’s claim that prosecutors failed to turn over evidence favorable to him. Anthony Juniper was sentenced to death for the 2004 murders of his former girlfriend, her two children and her brother in Norfolk. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday sent the case back to U.S. District Court, finding that a judge was wrong to dismiss Juniper’s claim without holding a hearing. Juniper’s lawyers allege that a witness gave an account to police that contradicted the prosecution’s timeline of the killings and failed to identify Juniper from a photo array. A judge stayed Juniper’s execution in 2011 and allowed him to pursue appeals in federal court.
