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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A man on Utah's death row is claiming for a second time that he should get a new trial because his attorneys did not challenge a judge's erroneous instructions to his jury.
The Utah State Supreme Court has already rejected Ronnie Lee Gardner's request. Justices decided this year that Gardner was barred from raising the issue in state court because it was NOT raised in his initial appeal.
Gardner took the appeal to the federal court level yesterday, arguing before U-S District Judge Tena Campbell.
She will now decide whether Gardner also is procedurally barred from raising this issue in federal court.
Gardner was convicted of shooting a lawyer to death during a failed courthouse escape in 1985.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
