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The Associated Press SANFRANCISCO The Cal- ifornia Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out a Los Angeles man's death pen- alty while upholding his first-degree murder con- viction. The court ruled that prosecutors introduced a previous murder con- viction that was improp- erly obtained during the penalty phase of Tommy Adrian Trujeque's 1999 trial. The jury sentenced Tru- jeque to death for killing his cousin's boyfriend in 1986. He believed the boy- friend was abusing his cousin. He was also con- victed of second-degree murder for helping to kill another man after a gam- bling dispute. Prosecutors told jurors that the two murders, plus another one Trujeque was convicted of committing in 1969, showed he was an unrepentant killer who de- served the death penalty. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that jurors shouldn't have been told of the 1969 murder of a beer deliveryman, which Tru- jeque committed when he was a teen. Trujeque was con- victed as an adult of sec- ond-degree murder in the death, for the 1969 death of a beer deliveryman he robbed. That conviction was obtained after a juve- nile court judge previously found him guilty of man- slaughter. The Supreme Court said that conviction was in- valid because it punished Trujeque twice for a sin- gle crime, known as dou- ble jeopardy. The court ordered the Los Angeles County dis- trict attorney to hold an- other trial to determine Trujeque's sentence for kill- ing his cousin's boyfriend in 1986. The district attorney's office didn't immediately respond to an email in- quiry. CONVICTION UPHELD State high court overturns killer's death penalty The Associated Press SANBERNARDINO A South- ern California man chased by sheriff's deputies while riding a horse and whose subsequent beating by them resulted in a $650,000 set- tlement was charged Thurs- day with resisting arrest and animal cruelty. Francis Pusok, 30, also was charged with reck- less driving and being un- der the influence of a con- trolled substance. He is free on $100,000 bail pending a June 16 arraignment. Messages seeking com- ment from Pusok's law- yers, Sharon Brunner and James Terrell, were not im- mediately returned. During a 2 -hour chase April 9, Pusok fled by car and then on a stolen horse in the desert while depu- ties chased him on foot. They were trying to serve a search warrant in an iden- tity-theft investigation. Pusok's eventual arrest was recorded by a KNBC- TV news crew in a helicop- ter. The video showed Pu- sok, dressed in bright red clothing, falling from the horse as a deputy ran up and fired a Taser that offi- cials said was ineffective. Pusok was face down with his legs outstretched and hands behind his back as a deputy threw punches and kicks. One deputy kicked him in the crotch. Other dep- uties arrived moments later. The video led to a fed- eral civil rights investiga- tion and San Bernardino County Sheriff John Mc- Mahon said the video "dis- turbed and troubled" him and appeared to show an excessive use of force. Ten deputies were placed on paid leave pending a de- partmental investigation. Last month, San Ber- nardino County supervisors approved paying $650,000 to Pusok to avoid a lawsuit over the beating. According to San Ber- nardino County Superior Court records, Pusok has a number of vehicle code vio- lations in his history. He also pleaded no contest to several criminal charges in a prior criminal case, including re- sisting arrest, attempted robbery, animal cruelty, and fighting or offensive words. 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