New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, has apparently tossed the state's death penalty. It ruled today that a Long Island man, Stephen LaValle, who murdered Cynthia Quinn in 1997, couldn't be executed because of a flaw in how the jury was instructed in the case.

The court upheld the murder conviction, but suggested the state Legislature had to re-work the statute before the death penalty in New York could be imposed.

Should the guy who did this be executed? Read what LaValle did, and decide for yourself:

Around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, 1997, the body of Cynthia Quinn was found in the woods near Mills Road in Yaphank, a village in Suffolk County.

Her neck, chest, back and arms were covered with 73 puncture wounds made with a screwdriver-like instrument. She had been raped. She also had a
broken rib, bruises on her arms and abrasions on many parts of her body.
About six hours earlier, she had left her home for her customary morning jog. Several Yaphank residents saw her running along her route.

By 7:30 a.m, her husband Brian Quinn grew concerned that she had not returned home and began searching for her. He had expected her to return by 7:00 a.m. because, as a self-employed carpenter, he was scheduled to report to a work site at 7:30 a.m. He also knew that Cynthia, a high school track coach, had a track meet that same morning.

Initially, Brian searched the surrounding area in his car, with his two young children, and then enlisted the help of fellow volunteer firefighters. Eventually, several units of the police department joined the search. The body was discovered by two volunteer firefighters.

Earlier that same morning, Monique Sturm was attacked and robbed by a man who bumped her car on a road in Port Jefferson, which is about eight miles from where the body was found. She managed to escape through the passenger door when the man forced himself through the door on the driver's side. In the process, she bit his finger. In her call to 911, placed at 5:51
a.m., Sturm provided a description of the assailant and his car.

Sturm's wallet was found around 11:40 a.m., not far from the murder scene.

The state's death penalty was written so that a judge could tell jurors during instructions that if they couldn't agree on whether or not to execute a convicted killer, the judge would get the case and issue a lighter sentence.

Why did New York's high court strike down the death penalty?

Studies have found that jurors tend to "grossly underestimate how long capital murderers not sentenced to death usually stay in prison...the "sooner jurors think a defendant will be released from prison, the more likely they are to vote for death and the more likely they are to see the defendant as dangerous..."

LaValle raped Cynthia Quinn and stabbed her 73 times with a screwdriver. But the state Court of Appeals was worried that the jury might have viewed him as "dangerous."