Mark Anthony Gill, Gill v. State, 300 S.W.3d 225 (Mo. banc 2009)

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Penalty Phase
Mark Anthony Gill was convicted with a co-defendant in the 2002 killing of Ralph Lape, Jr. in New Madrid County, and he was sentenced to death. The Missouri Supreme Court granted Mr. Gill a new penalty-phase trial in state post-conviction proceedings after finding that his trial counsel had failed to carefully review the directory of the victim’s computer, which contained child pornography, and had failed to present the sexually explicit content to counter the state’s evidence of the victim’s good character. Gill v. State, 300 S.W.3d 225 (Mo. banc 2009).
The State sought the death penalty for Mr. Gill again. After a two-week jury retrial, Mr. Gill was sentenced to life without parole in May 2017.