Appeals court overturns death penalty

A man sentenced to death in a 1984 killing had his conviction overturned after a federal appeals court in Ohio found his due process rights had been violated.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled John David Stumpf's rights were violated when prosecutors led a lower court to believe he was the main offender in the murder of a woman in her New Concord home, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Stumpf must be released unless the state grants him a new hearing within 90 days, the court said in its 2-1 ruling.

The court found prosecutors had evidence and believed Clyde Daniel Wesley, a friend of Stumpf's and the co-defendant, was the trigger man in the death of Mary Jane Stout.

The court, which heard arguments four years ago, had overturned Stumpf's conviction and death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the conviction and sent the case back to the appeals court to determine whether he should receive the death penalty.

Stumpf and Wesley had been arrested in the killing of Stout and shooting of her husband, Norman. The two men had gone to the couple's home and asked to use the phone so they could rob them.

Stumpf, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, admitted shooting Norman Stout in the head but said Wesley killed Mary Jane Stout.

Shell admits to oil spills in Nigeria

Royal Dutch Shell said it was responsible for two oil spills in the Niger Delta and is preparing for the consequences as outlined in Nigerian law.

A spokesman for the company said Shell expected the legal process in relation to Nigerian oil spills to take several months.

"(Shell) has always acknowledged that the two spills which affected the Bodo community, and which are the subject of this legal action, were operational," the spokesman was quoted by The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London as saying. "As such, (Shell) will pay compensation in accordance with Nigerian law."

The Bodo community in Nigeria filed a class-action lawsuit in London for an oil spill in the Niger Delta. The community blames Shell for many of the oil spills in the region.

The Bodo suit involves a leak believed to be from a pipeline that dumped crude oil into the Bodo creek for about four months in summer 2008. Shell said it didn't know of the problem for several months.

Shell and other oil companies working in Nigeria blame oil bandits with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta for many spills.

The United Nations estimated that at least 6,800 oil spills occurred in the area from 1976-2001.